Extremely violent '80s crime classic with drugs, sex, etc.

Rating: 10/10 (17 September 2013)

Viewed today, while Scarface seems less shocking than it did during its initial theatrical run, it's no more substantive or interesting. What were Pacino's detractors hoping for? Something internal and realistic? Low key? The Tony Montana character is above all a performance artist, a man who exists in order to gloriously be himself. The dominant mood of the film is anything but funny. It is bleak and futile: What goes up must always come down. When it comes down in Scarface, the crash is as terrifying as it is vivid and arresting. An unashamed study of selfish, sadistic criminality, and all the better for it. It's a whole new spin on the immigrant story and the American Dream as an underworld nightmare and a fitting bookend to the two Godfather films.