One of the Best Crime Movies Ever Made

Rating: 10/10 (30 August 2012)

Scarface, a crime-drama directed by Brian De Palma, is an artistic film that depicts a rise and fall (allegory to classic Greek fables) of a gangster who gets everything, but at the same time, loses everything in his life. This movie has amazing drama, exceptional acting, and bloody, exhilarating action. Al Pacino (The Godfather 1 and 2, Dog Day Afternoon) who plays the avaricious, antisocial Cuban immigrant Tony Montana (who has a scar on his face due to his unknown childhood trauma) who wishes to pursue the American Dream when arriving in Miami, Florida with his loyal best friend, Manny Ribera (Steven Bauer, an underrated actor). He decides to follow the dark side to exceed his prospects. Tony does a hit job on a corrupt politician (exposition) for crime boss, Frank Lopez, who has a soft spot. Thus, Tony starts to escalate. As Tony explains to Manny "first, you get the money, then the power, then the women," he becomes charmed with Frank's cocaine-addict oblivious wife, Elvira (played by Michelle Pfeiffer) and wants Frank gone, so he can take control of the cocaine empire. While Tony is working for Frank, he has an almost incestuous relationship (I dunno) with his sister, Gina Montana and is very protective of her because he doesn't want her to be corrupted. Later in the movie, Tony makes a deal with sadistic cocaine drug lord, Sosa, who tells Tony not to screw him, and argues with his Frank about the deal the he made. Frank explains to Tony that Sosa is a snake and not trust-worthy. Tony doesn't believe this and starts fooling around with Frank's wife. Frank's assassins attack Tony in a luxury club, but he escapes luckily and confronts Frank. Tony kills him for his betrayal and takes over the empire. Tony gets everything, but slowly goes insane when he keeps doing cocaine. His relationship with Elvira falls apart after marrying her. Also, he has problems with the FBI force. Manny secretly dates Tony's sister without telling him. Then, Tony makes another deal with Sosa that they would both solve each other's problems by doing favors for each other. During the climax, Tony has to whack a journalist that could enervate Sosa's business by putting him in jail, but Tony has a sense of morality when he doesn't want to kill the journalist's family when they are in the car with the journalist, so Tony decides not to. Tony fueled by cocaine, later, founds out that Manny was having sex with his sister at his sister's house, and kills Manny cold-blooded. Back at his huge mansion, Tony goes infuriated when Sosa angrily calls him about the failed job. After snorting so much cocaine, Tony has lost a sense of reality, while Sosa's men sneak in the mansion to kill Tony. Tony's sister is killed, so Tony grabs a gun to shoot at the doors of his luxurious office and says the most famous line in the movie, "Say hello to my little friend" and blasts the doors open. He starts killing people madly while they are shooting at him. One of the Sosa's top assassins sneaks in the window of Tony's office and shoots Tony in the back. Tony, now dead, falls down into the water fountain on the main floor. There is blood everywhere. The music starts playing as Tony's empire is annihilated. The action in this movie is pretty spectacular because it was influenced by John Woo's action films. There are a few shootouts in the movie: one in an apartment, one in a night club, and lastly, one in the mansion at the end. The moral of Scarface is that people shouldn't take advantage of the American Dream by taking short cuts. Also, the movie also has a message that you shouldn't do drugs since they will corrupt you, just like committing crimes.
Oscars it should have been nominated: Art direction Best actor Best score Best director Best picture