A good, convincing portrayal of a fictional Cubans rise to power in the underworld of America

Rating: 8/10 (8 August 2004)

After watching this again, I realize that I may have praised this film a little too much. Therefore, this is the more down-to-earth review. A lot of people compare this film to Godfather; granted, there are similarities, but Godfather is the better film. The entire Godfather trilogy(apart from possibly part III) is better than this film, as a whole trilogy and as individual films. Godfather has the better actors, the better script and the better film, as a whole. Sure, Scarface has some good talents, a somewhat good script, and is a pretty good film, but it doesn't compare to the greatness of Godfather. The plot is good, it has a pretty good pace, and it's fairly interesting. The acting is good, with Al Pacino and Michelle Pfeiffer giving pretty good performances, and most of the rest being reasonably good. The thing is, Scarface is more of an action film than a regular crime-drama; it has a body-count several times the size of the one that Godfather has. What you make of that is up to you, but personally I prefer quality over quantity. Every time someone was "hit" in one of the Godfather films, it was special, and often unique. There were several actual shoot-outs in this film, and it quickly got fairly uninteresting, as they didn't have the intensity of a regular action film, and felt a little out of place in a crime-drama. The overall tone of this film was more violent than Godfather's tone, and, at times, the film felt like it was mainly about putting in as much graphic violence as possible. It was good, no doubt about that, it just wasn't great. I have yet to see the original Scarface, but I hear it's much better, so I'll have to check it out soon. All in all, a pretty good gangster film, pretty good crime-drama, but just inferior to Godfather. Watch it to get a good, gritty and nothing less than realistic view on organized crime in the 1980's. Listen to the great theme, maybe be shocked at the gruesome violence, and learn, that ultimately, crime doesn't pay. I recommend this to fans of gangster movies and crime-dramas, fans of Brian De Palma(I guess, though I can't really remember what else he's done that's worth watching), and people who are interested in films about organized crime. Worth checking out. 8/10