Live the American Dream With Tony Montana

Rating: 9/10 (14 February 2006)

Scarface has to be one of the best and one of the most well known 'mob' films you can find. Its 1980's feel and look, De Palma's directing and of course Pacino's wonderfully diverse accent twinned with his ruthless efficiency as both an actor and a character make it something special. The glossy Miami setting proves a wonderful backdrop for the protagonist's quest to achieve in life, and achieve he does. Although spoofed on a number of different occasions, nothing really gets taken away from this film as it, in a way, 'got there first'. It contains all the original, necessary atmosphere and 'mise-en-scene' required to really grab the viewer and suck them in with its slick and often loud character attire, exotic setting and eerie lighting in some scenes, announcing the violence to come before we even suspect anything.
Apart from the rather erratic captions early on in the film, there is little you can find fault-wise in this film. If you like the genre and the sense of the narrative i.e.; it is rather lending itself towards dialogue more than action in a 60-40 balance and will have all the necessary scenes to draw out the 'climbing the ladder' scenario, then this film is definitely for you. The interesting accents and one-on-one conversations the central character has during the film with numerous friends and foe's alike adds to the sense of time being passed and rungs being climbed - it works very well.
The mind spinning soundtrack full of 80's music is something you can't really decide whether to love or loath but thanks to a certain computer game from a few years ago, they seem to have regained a bit of respect amongst fans and it is certainly a breath of fresh air in the sense it's different when comparing it to standard music as a convention found in other mobster movies such as classical Italian themes in 'The Godfather Trilogy' and 1950's tracks being pumped out to mobsters in black suits when thinking of 'Goodfellas'.
What also sells this film is the element of narrative once the character feels he's reached a certain stage in his goal. When he feels he's hit the top, the journey through Pacino's characters mind is equally as fascinating as the one we had when seeing him attempt to get there in the first place. The paranoia and obsession with security early on in his 'reign' is a hint of things to come and the bloody climax builds up through Pacino's good acting and a turn of events which helps us really begin to recognise with what a danger he has become through corruption of power.
Despite its basic 'American Dream' plot, Scarface deals with it in some style and punch which is perhaps lacking in other films in the genre. Its nice iconography, mise-en-scene and decent acting from the cast puts it in a healthy position near the top of all time greats of the genre and possibly of all time.