Excessive, violent, and distasteful just like the people it's depicting.

Rating: 10/10 (3 October 2010)

A lot of people criticize Brian De Palma's 1983 cult classic "Scarface" for being a very campy and unrealistic version of "The Godfather" and similar crime/gangster films. I am going to be completely honest and say those who say that are clearly missing the point.
Scarface is a great film, and one I revisit often because if you take away the reputation it's received since it was released(with rappers and just the related) it truly is a well made movie with some of the best acting in the genre. But I do believe it is necessary to address the aforementioned most common criticism. First of all, the violence in the film(and indeed, the three main shootouts are some of the finest in the decade) is not completely over the top and unreal as some believe because though it is exaggerated slightly, you got to remember gangsters kill people. And people who try to get them are killed often. The movie is gratuitously violent because the characters and their personalities are gratuitously violent. What do you want them to do, pretend this doesn't happen? This is a movie like "The Godfather" that is honest about who and what it is discussing. But while "The Godfather" was about a family, and how a family in the wrong business can affect the sensibilities and lives of both the family members and the people who are victims of their bloody business, "Scarface" is about what happens to a person when nothing matters to them anymore except immediate satisfaction of their deepest, and often darkest desires. Al Pacino's performance in the film is over the top yes, but the character he is portraying can be nothing but over the top because he has no substance in him to be subtle or even fairly human for that matter, and because of that the film contains a classic Pacino performance.
The film also hints that perhaps Tony Montana himself isn't totally happy or engaged in what he is doing. The famous scene when he inhales the cocaine face first in the prelude to the finale, shows in a strange way, just how he realizes he ruined his life up to that point. There is nothing left for him at that point. There are scenes when elements of humanity come through though, but it's coming through a man who is a complete and utter louse at this point, and so everything is more extreme than a normal person would have dealt with it.
For example, his attempts to protect his sister from losing her virginity by beating any man who makes the attempt, shows how he wants her to be with a good person and be happy, but coming through the disgruntled mind of Tony Montana he deals with it in the only way he knows how: through violence.
He also still has certain reservations about himself. He won't kill children for example when a certain kind of mission is presented to him in the film, and he attempts to heal the wounds of his mother after all these years of him being a gangster even if in the way he does comes across as crass and perhaps desperate(even though the visage he adopts is of carelessness). But again that's the only way he knows how to act at this point. You see, Pacino's performance is so good that even though a fair amount of this is only hinted at(though some of it is pretty direct I think) you can see it in his face and hear it in his voice, which is so extravagant it's almost as if he's trying to prove something.
The other characters in the film are all there to support Montana, but they are all quite memorable. Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio as Gina Montana is chilling in the role of a normal young woman being abused mentally by her over protective brother, and starts to lose it herself later on. Steven Bauer who plays Manny, isn't a particularly well developed character, but that's because he exists more to help develop the other characters and in that regard Bauer does a fine job. And of course who could forget the beautiful and talented Michelle Pfeiffer as Elvira, who in her own way is just as flawed and miserable as Montana, but rather then exploding into drug dealing and violence she implodes in a sense to where nothing she says is exactly what she thinks, and almost seems to feel there's no point to her existence.
But it's not only the actors that are important to Scarface. Brian De Palma's fantastic directing showcases each character in memorable fashion and all the faster paced sections are handled well too. And of course Oliver Stone's 4 letter word laden script is vulgar and foul, but memorable and effective providing many classic lines, but I do also want to point out the great soundtrack, put together and composed(partially) by Giorgio Moroder. Sure it's full on 80's synthesized new wave esquire music, but it fits the mood surprisingly well and is fun to listen to with the movie. And the haunting melody at the very end of the movie sums it all up perfectly.
I have probably gone on too long, but I wanted to wash away any misconceptions people who perhaps are not sure they want to see the movie either because of it's obnoxious pop culture references and relations or because of common criticisms. I won't say it's the best in the genre(in fact there are many that are better and a tad more focused on story) but certainly manages to blend entertainment(because the story itself is intriguing, and the film is just fun to watch) and message together effectively without over doing either. If you like your mafia movie dark, gritty, realistic, honest and meaningful, then you could do a lot worse than choose "Scarface".
Check it out.