Somewhat disappointing

Rating: 6/10 (22 August 2009)

Here we have a movie which tells the story of Eliot Ness and his efforts to bring Al Capone to justice. Playing very fast and loose with the facts of the real Ness/Capone story this is definitely a Hollywood version of the Prohibition saga. Honestly there seems to be very little based in fact here other than that there once indeed lived men named Eliot Ness and Al Capone. So the movie isn't going to work as a history lesson. Does it work simply as a movie? Not as well as one might hope. The movie holds your attention throughout, the story is certainly compelling. But there are definitely problems littered throughout the film. You get the sense all the film's pieces never quite come together as well as they should.
One of the movie's biggest problems is right at its heart. Kevin Costner's portrayal of Ness always seems a bit off. The character comes across as very bland, Costner seems to often be scared to show even a hint of emotion. He's rather boring and that's certainly not good. Meanwhile in portraying Capone we have Robert De Niro who appears to be acting in an entirely different movie than everybody else. With the film focusing mostly on Ness and his lawmen the Capone sequences often seem forced and oddly out of place. And, aside from one instance where he provides a novel use for a baseball bat, we never really see Capone's ruthless streak. In fact De Niro's Capone at times seems almost charming, likable even. Something about that doesn't seem right. Undoubtedly the best performance in the film comes from Sean Connery playing an Irish beat cop who, in the real history, never actually existed. Connery gets the lion's share of the memorable lines and certainly does well with the role.
Director Brian De Palma, as is his wont, goes for the memorable visuals and the "look at me, aren't I brilliant" directorial touches. The famous baby on the staircase sequence? If it wasn't an homage you'd call it downright silly. Actually even as an homage it's still rather silly. And almost interminable. Unfortunately De Palma seems far too often to be more interested in filming things in a unique fashion than in making sure his story works. And sometimes the story simply isn't working. The movie is often too Hollywood for its own good. There are some things which you see up on the screen which simply aren't believable, having that "only in the movies" feel which takes you out of the film entirely. Most notable is when one character has perhaps the longest death sequence in film history. You can't help but find yourself saying "shouldn't you be quite dead by now?" Matters often aren't helped by the widely praised musical score which in actuality is at times rather intrusive and jarring. What we're left with is a movie which works in bits and pieces but which doesn't quite add up. With all the big names in the cast, and with the undeniably compelling story the film is (loosely) based on, you get the sense this film should have ended up being better than it actually is.