Involving drama

Rating: 9/10 (27 August 2004)

A classic rise and fall tale, Scarface sees Al Pacino in a slightly different role to his Godfather days, but still operating on the wrong side of the law.
A remake of a 30's movie, Scarface is the story of Tony Montana, a lowlife Cuban punk who migrates to the USA with his best buddy Manny to make a better life for themselves, free from the oppression of Fidel Castro. Quickly taken under the wing of Robert Logia's Frank Lopez, Tony finds himself heavily involved in the criminal underworld and as he rises through the ranks, he begins to make bad decisions and to trust the wrong people...
Essentially Scarface is the tale of how you can lose it all through your own pig-headed stupidity. We see multiple characters' fates in this being cast in stone from the moment we are introduced to them, but the narrative shows us that even when we're shown the right path, our own arrogance can take us up the wrong one.
Brilliantly acted throughout by a *very* strong cast including an effective Steven Bauer as the amiable and reliable Manny, Loggia as the personable but soft Lopez, F Murray Abraham as the untrustworthy Omar, Michelle Pfieffer as the troubled junkie Elvira, and Elizabeth Mary Mastrantonio as Tony's kid sister Gina, Scarface gives us a strong script with which to couple these convincing characters, and it drags us into its world as a result. The top class direction from de Palma aids this too by keeping it moving swiftly.
Certainly one to see. Top quality drama.