Near-brilliant gangster drama

Rating: 9/10 (25 November 2016)

A typically overblown crime drama from Brian De Palma which - although it can't reach the heights of his earlier SCARFACE - still offers the goods in terms of pure, intelligent cinematic entertainment. A sharp script (written by David Mamet) and some surprisingly good performances from the cast combine to make this unmissable entertainment, a perfectly-formed film with excellent use of theatrical direction. De Palma is stylish at every turn, using his camera in innovative ways and developing some outstanding set-pieces along the way. Also boosting the film's epic value is a solid contribution to the soundtrack from Ennio Morricone which helps create the era and atmosphere wonderfully.
The cast is uniformly good, especially the five leads who all give above average performances. Kevin Costner has always been a much-maligned actor but he gives a nicely subtle turn here as the family man with a conscience who finds himself up against one of the biggest crime bosses in history. All of the scene-stealing goes to the Oscar-winning Sean Connery, himself unforgettable as the chirpy Irish cop Jim Malone; I never thought I'd hear myself say this but he may well be the best thing in the movie! The other, less focused 'untouchables' include a moving and at times funny performance from Charles Martin Smith as an accountant turned shotgun-wielding hero, and a young Andy Garcia as a sharpshooter fighting for the side of good. As the obese villain, Robert De Niro steals his scenes with his own particular brand of method acting, and proves to be memorably scary when wielding a baseball bat.
De Palma's direction is top-notch and a major reason for the film's success; without him it may have been just another run-of-the-mill worthy-but-dull drama, but De Palma goes to painstaking lengths to create an entertaining film. As such, he has received flak for twisting the events away from reality, but in my view a film's main aim is to entertain the viewer, which this does and admirably with it. The violence is strong and powerful and the story at times moving, and the highlight is undoubtedly the train station shoot-out at the finale in which De Palma proves that his use of slow motion is better than anybody else's; the result is unforgettable. As near a brilliant piece of film-making as you can wish for.