Tides of greed.

Rating: 10/10 (29 June 2004)

One of my favorite films of all time.
Tony Montana and his friend Manny have come to Miami from Cuba as political refugees in the early '80's....to take over the cocaine empire and rule the world. Quite simply, the story is about greed, excess, power, and violence....ahhh the American Dream.
Al Pacino pulls out all his skills and gives his performance of his lifetime here, he becomes Tony Montana, literally. Quite simply, one of the best acting performances I've seen, if not the very best. How he nailed that accent is a mystery to me, and while it's convincing, it's also completely hilarious! There are more quotable lines for this film than any film, period. How some people do not enjoy Pacino in this film completely baffles me, although much of the discontent for this film comes from the fact that he has an accent, and I think some just have a hard time getting used to it. Without the accent, I don't believe I'd like it as much. He's just one bad mofo.
The story itself is fairly simple, rising to the top can be just as fast as dropping to the bottom. And even everything in the world can't make some people happy, when by all rights it should. Filmed in the '80's, it is unmistakably hard to ignore. The clothes, music and cars have the decade of excess written all over them, which is perfect for this film in particular. And just like the '80's themselves, Scarface screams of excess as Tony quickly rises to the top of the drug empire. No one stays on top forever.

Although not a mob movie, one of the best damn gangster movies made. Ridiculously highly recommended.