Great acting with interesting portrayals.

Rating: 8/10 (27 September 2015)

There is a lot of action in the film, and quite a few gory scenes which are gory enough for me to turn my head away. Considering the subject matter however, there was not as much violence as I thought there would be. What makes this movie stand out for me, is that there is structure which follows Montana's rise to success as a drug lord and when there is violence, the violence is explained. I wouldn't say that the violence is justified, but unlike many other action films nowadays with pointless fighting, this film doesn't have that.
The acting in the film is pretty great. Al Pacino does a marvelous job at playing Tony Montana. His gradual character change from 'fun bobby' to intense, paranoid, control freak is done so subtly that it is hard to believe he is in character. Steven Bauer and Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio are great in their roles too. Michelle Pfeiffer's character did not have much emotion, as she was probably stoned all the time, so I guess Pfeiffer did well in her role too.
This film perfectly depicts the American dream, as Tony proves with hard work (and crime activity), you can come from the bottom and reach the top. However the film also criticizes capitalism, through the rise and fall of Tony. There is no such thing as having enough, and once greed takes over, an unhappy ending is pretty much guaranteed.
There is also a great deal many things that I find confusing (for example, his relationship with his sister), and that I dislike (the portrayal of women), but overall it was quite an engaging film.
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