You need films like this. You need films like this so you can point your fingers and say "That's the bad one."

Rating: 10/10 (13 January 2014)

I will go ahead and say that Scarface is my all-time favorite film, so this may be slightly biased. Yes, the movie is over-the-top, overdone, and excessive. However, when the tag line is "The world is yours," what other way is there to do it? The movie is supposed to be this way because Tony Montana (Al Pacino) wants it all, as in the world and everything in it.
Pacino can be a fireball, and he is nothing short of that as Tony Montana, an overly ambitious, short-tempered political prisoner from Cuba during the Castro-Revolution era. There are 226 uses of the "f" word in the film, and Montana probably accounts for 90 percent of them. If anyone else would dare take on such a character with an excessively profane script, which was written by Oliver Stone, the film probably would have been a bust because Pacino did it so well to me and it has become the staple of his career along with Michael Corleone in the Godfather films.
The story is also just so incredibly played out throughout the film. I have never watched a film 170 minutes or longer that goes by in what feels like an hour, not even The Godfather or The Godfather: Part II. From the "political prisoner from Cuba" scene to the epic "Say goodnight to the bad guy" monologue, and of course "Say hello to my little friend," a plot in a film has never interested me so much, not even Godfather I and II.
Going back to the "Bad Guy" rant, there's a reason why I chose to make my own little "spin-off" of it as the title, if you want to call it that. It's my favorite scene in the movie, and it is really the whole point of the film. After having an argument with his wife, Tony is sitting alone in a restaurant with everyone staring at him, and he says, "You're all a bunch of f*****' ass*****. You know why? You don't have the guts to be what you wanna be. You need people like me. You need people like me so you can point your f*****' fingers, and say 'that's the bad guy.'" The point being made is that Tony is viewed as a bad person because he is not afraid to be who he is, a short-tempered, overly ambitious man who will not hesitate to speak his mind. So many people in the world are so concerned with being liked and accepted by others, they don't stay true to who they really are and become someone they aren't, and they never obtain true happiness with that person they become, so they judge people who aren't like them and other people they try to be like. Tony goes on to say, "So, what that make you? Good? You're not good. You just know how to hide, how to lie. Me, I don't have that problem. Me, I always tell the truth, even when I lie. So say goodnight to the bad guy! Come on! The last you're gonna see a bad guy like this again, let me tell you." When you watch the other people in the restaurant while Tony is saying this and looking around at them, it is very apparent that Tony is speaking the truth. When Tony tries to look at the people, they simply look straight down with a look on their faces as if they have been found out by the "bad guy" who is "below them."
Moving on to another reason why it's been my favorite film since I was 10 is four simple words, "The World is Yours." I truly believe it anytime I read it, say it, or think about it. That's what I think of when I think of the iconic masterpiece that is Scarface, not all of the over-the-top acting, swearing, blood, violence, or the overly flashy suits. Those four words are what inspired rich celebrities like P. Diddy and Shaquille O'Neal to achieve what they've achieved. Those four words sold millions of posters that hang on walls all across the world. Those four words inspire me to be a accomplish great things in my life.
To conclude, and make one last reiteration to the title of the review, if you hate the movie for all the reasons I previously listed, which I can understand, ask yourself this. "Are all those things the only things this movie is about?" The answer is no. Think with your brain, not your eyes and ears, see the film with your mind instead of your eyes. That's how I came up with my interpretation of the film that it is over-the-top and excessive but that's the way the film was supposed to be, and it was not afraid to be shown the way it is shown. Scarface is the "bad guy" of cinema, in my opinion, and I have been a huge fan of the "bad guy" for a long time. You need films like this so those people described earlier can point their fingers and say "that's the bad film," or "it's terrible, pointless, mindless, excessive violence with too much blood, swearing, and yelling." So, what does that make them and the movies that they like just because their friends and peers like them? Good?