A disappointing attempt at a Gangster Flick

Rating: 6/10 (16 February 2005)

Scarface, a film by Bryan De Palma staring Al Pacino as a Cuban Immigrant who works his way into the Miami drug business.
I'd heard a lot of good things about Scarface, and being a big fan of Gangster movies I was really looking forward to seeing it, but in the end I felt quite disappointed. You never really get the chance like or even understand Tony Montana. You know has issues with his sister but you never know why. He seems cold and distant, and only halfway in I'd lost all interest in him; weather he died or not I didn't care anymore. In the Godfather you feel as though you are a part of the family and even though they're criminals you sympathise with them, but Tony you don't care about and so no matter what happens to him it has no effect on you as a viewer. I tried to like him but as hard as I tried I still wanted him dead. The story is rushed, there's the rise and the fall but that's all, nothing in between. To put it simply this movie is depressing the main character is a psycho but not in a good way. Travis Bickle in Taxi Driver was a psycho but you knew why, you understood and liked him, this isn't the case with Montana.
Scarface has got to be the most overrated Gangster flick ever; it's dull, simple and distant. De Palma's directing is nothing special and the story has no heart. Characters don't develop they change and a lot of their actions seem to be out of character. Films such as Pulp Fiction immerse you in a way that every character seems real but Stone clearly doesn't know his characters and neither does De Palma, they aren't believable and this to me is the real problem.
I never understand why so many people rank Scarface so highly. It's not a masterpiece; it brings nothing new to the genre and can't even hope to compete with other Gangster films out there. I must admit that for the first half hour or so I quite enjoyed it and the chainsaw scene is classic but from there on it just started falling apart. If it's a Gangster film you're after go see Goodfellas, go see what a real Gangster film looks like.
5/10- As good as Pacino's acting may be even he cant save Scarface. It's no more then a Hollywood action film and in no way a classic.