8/10

Rating: 8/10 (28 September 2016)

Scarface is one of the most iconic movies of the 80's. The film directed by Brian De Palma gives a stunning performance by Al Pacino, features a perfect amount of "over-the-top" violence and a memorable story of a man who will stop at nothing to score big in America. The movie revolves around Tony Montana (Al Pacino) and his friend Manny Ribera (Steven Bauer) after they have escaped Fidel Castro-controlled Cuba. They have just arrived in the city of Miami and Tony, who has big aspirations, is determined to reach the American dream by any means necessary, even if it means turning to a life of crime. The story continues as Montana begins to work as a drug dealer and eventually rises up to become a feared drug lord that gains the money, the power and (of course) the women. Al Pacino plays the role of Antonio Montana with a passion very different from his role as Michael Corleone in The Godfather. Pacino broke away from the calm and collected ways of the Italian gangster and gave us a new perspective on a foreign mobster. Antonio Montana was not limited to the grace of a stereotypical mobster which allowed Al Pacino was able to show us a man with an insatiable want for power and money. Scarface features a seemingly unlimited supply of blood, guns and cocaine as it follows the story of Tony. Producer Martin Bregman spared no expense in supplying providing the film with intense gunfights, towering piles of blow and even a gruesome chainsaw dismemberment scene. Some viewers might consider the action scenes to be over the top, but I believe that they are just part of what made the movie a memorable classic. The plot of the story is somewhat fast paced, yet shows a realistic depiction of the journey of a man who started with nothing and wants to become someone who has everything. We do see Antonio begin to grow as a successful man who lives an extravagant lifestyle, but we are also shown the darker and greedy side of a person with a need for power. As the story develops we become aware that the protagonist and antagonist of the film might live within the same man. One factor that might affect a modern viewer's enjoyment of the film is the hype itself. Everyone knows Scarface for its large amount of cocaine and the famous "Say hello to my little friend!" but that is all, Scarface is not particularly famous for its plot. Some people's enjoyment of the film might resemble a cardiac monitor, big spikes of excitement followed by periods of long, drawn out (sometimes pointless) plot scenes or elements in between. For example the movie script includes a whopping 226 times that the F-bomb was dropped, this equates to 1.32 F's per minute throughout the whole movie. Despite this however, the movie is no less exciting and does not fail to provide a sense of happiness when Tony guns down a bunch of guerrilla fighters.