Good, but no classic!

Rating: 6/10 (20 April 2008)

Having seen SCARFACE last night after a 22 year gap I can honestly say that I was entertained, but have to admit that the movie is nowhere near other gangster classics such as (ironically) THE GODFATHER or GOODFELLAS. SCARFACE tells the tale of Cuban "political" immigrant Tony Montana and his arrival to the U.S. and how he attains money and power beyond his wildest dreams. You don't need to be a narc or an FBI expert to tell that Montana smells of bad luck; his demeanor, the way he talks, etc. would make him an instant suspect in any police department around the world. How he manages the get IN the U.S. is one of the movie's first flaws. It was apparent from the start that Montana was a lowlife and trouble maker. His manners and ways don't change through out the entire film. It's as though we're almost looking at a comic book character. Many people hailed Pacino's performance but I found it terribly annoying, one-dimensional. Forget if he's a nihilistic punk. His character barely shows anything different than the punk he is. Except on one scene, where he is forced to kill a person along with his family. It's the only point in the whole movie where he shows some remorse and/or compassion for someone else. The other characters, like Elvira (Michelle Pfeifer) are equally wasted in their performances. How come she ends up marrying the "grease ball" she so much hates? If anyone, only Steven Bauer's character was a tad more human and believable. As for the action sequences, they are far less bloody than anything on THE GODFATHER or GOODFELLAS. Sure, there's a lot of cursing, courtesy of Scarface himself.
Another thing that annoyed me is that I'm never quite sure how LONG it took Tony Montana to be from Cuban Lowlife to Mr. American dream. The movie never addresses this. Instead of including useless scenes of Tony and his Bank administrator or Tony and Manny checking out the chicks at Miami Beach, more character development would've been much welcomed.
SCARFACE plays more like an exploitation film, done with Hollywood standards, but in that sense it wasn't shocking to me when I saw it 22 years ago and it wasn't shocking to me last night. Sure, I like Pacino, Brian De Palma and Oliver Stone and sure, I think SCARFACE is OK, but a TOP 250 IMDb movie??? Like Tony Montana would say, "Gimme a f#%!g break" !!!