A Good Film In Parts But One With Serious Flaws

Rating: 6/10 (8 October 2003)

Some reviewers point out that when you remember a movie from several years ago your memory blocks out all the bad things leaving only good memories of it . I mainly disagree with this view point . With the exception of some DOCTOR WHO stories everything I remember , either good or bad , about a film or TV show from yesteryear seems to be confirmed when seeing it today . There are exceptions to this and one of them is SCARFACE

I first saw this in the early 1990s and can vividly remember the performances , dialogue and gut wrenching violence . I saw it a second time a few days ago which did confirm that my memory of great performances and dialogue had been correct . However I`d seem to have forgotten all about serious flaws the film has
First is the rather annoying operatic feel of the movie , everything is grandiose and over the top . Every set is massive as the camera pans out showing us the sets . People don`t just take a line of cocaine , they fall face down in a massive mound of the drug . People don`t fall down after being killed , they almost explode in a sea of red stuff while the final climatic shoot out becomes laughably OTT
The second flaw is Tony Montana`s motivation . He cares about children deeply ( It`s this that leads to his downfall ) but nothing in Oliver Stone`s script explains why he`s so caring about little ones . It`s an obvious redemption plot . He cares . End . No explanation . It`s never really explained either why Tony wants to keep his sister away from all men

As I said SCARFACE does have some really good points . I never once thought I was watching Pacino act because Pacino IS Montana and all the other performances are good . Despite the flaws of the script the dialogue is highly quotable with lines like " I bet you aint been f***ed all year " and " Say hello to my little friend " . A shame the gut wrenching violence is too overblown to be credible or disturbing .
A good film but I can`t help thinking at the end of the day CARLITO`S WAY is a much better movie