Overrated TV Movie

Rating: Null/10 (30 May 2004)

SPOILERS
In the 1930's, the American Gangster was widespread and world renown. One of the (if not THE) most famous gangsters of them all was Al Capone. On the other side of the law was Eliot Ness, the man who's goal was to put Capone behind bars. "The Untouchables" was the story of this rivalry.
This movie begins with Ness arriving in a gang driven Chicago vowing to clean up the city. Along with his friend and adviser Jim Malone (Sean Connery), Ness takes on Capone and things then begin to get nasty.
I'd love to praise this movie, I really would. In the top 250 list on this website, "The Untouchables" is currently around the 230 mark. Personally that feels far too high. I don't know whether it was the quality of the tape which I watched (a video which advertised "Planes, Trains and Automobiles" as coming soon to rent), or the film itself, but ultimately I felt very disappointed. Connery as Malone appears to first attempt to master the Irish accent, but then almost instantly ignores it. Then for the remainder of his screen time he appears wooden and with relatively little emotion. I fail to see how this performance could be anywhere near worthy of an Oscar for Best Supporting Actor. My only suggestion is that the 1988 Oscars appear to have been ridiculously weak overall. Truthfully though, it is not fair to criticize Connery solely for the flaws with this movie.
As well as Connery's awful performance in "The Untouchables", the movie is also weak in characterisation (Connery & Costner are meant to be close but the friendship feels to be nothing other than an acquaintance), soundtrack (which is truly terrible) and dialogue.
On the other hand, "The Untouchables" does possess a great performance by De Niro (although it's still not his best by a long distance) and it does also contain one or two nice pieces of scenery. Aside from these two aspects though, little else can be said which is positive about this movie. Some people will no doubt criticize my condemnation for this disappointing piece of cinema, but personally I just didn't find it that great.