You won't catch Tony Montana begging for his life

Rating: 10/10 (24 December 2012)

Everyone knows who Scarface is. Growing up, Scarface was the movie you could catch any of your friends watching on any given day (at least your guy friends). The movie was and still is one of the most quoted of all time, and Tony Montana, played by Al Pacino, is one of the great characters of our time. I have watched this film many times and it never gets old.
Scarface is the story of Tony Montana, an immigrant refugee from Cuba who is sent to South Florida in the early 80s by the Cuban government. You can tell right away Tony is a psychopath. Killing means little to him and we don't see him as someone working a typical 9-5 job. Tony is a hustler. Tony is the streets.
Perhaps it's the beautiful scenes of Miami in the 80s that warms my heart to this movie. Growing up in South Florida, it was a treat to see how it looked as the big population boom started to hit the state. The beautiful setting contrasted greatly with the violence in the movie, and Director Brian De Palma does a fantastic job using it to his advantage, especially in the infamous chainsaw scene.
The character Al Pacino creates here is a fascinating one. Tony seems to genuinely care for no one, with the lone exception being his sister Gina. It's hard to cheer for a man like Montana when he treats everyone around him so terribly. He also has an infatuation with his boss's wife (who he later marries), although we never really see either of them having much fun together. This was a classic case of two dysfunctional people in a dysfunctional relationship. We rarely see any signs of love or morality from Tony, except when it comes to killing children. Good to know he does draw the line somewhere.
One of my favorite scenes (among many) is when Frank Lopez, Tony's former boss who attempts to have him killed, is on his knees begging and pleading to Tony for his life. I could never picture Tony in such a predicament, and by the end of the movie we see that Tony does indeed face death far differently than his former boss does.
If you like action, comedy, complex yet dysfunctional characters, beautiful settings, outstanding dialog, and fantastic direction, this movie is for you. One of the greats 10/10.