It looks like a great film at the outset; unfortunately it is not.

Rating: 5/10 (12 September 2015)

Brian De Palma's, "The Untouchables" is a rare example of a film that appears to be great on a surface level, to be a great film. You could swear, with each passing frame that the film you are witnessing the progression of an outstanding production.
We have De Niro, playing the role he seemed to be born to play (Al Capone) and Sean Connery giving a great comeback performance as a witty, hardened police officer. The shots are beautiful, with Prohibition Era Chicago looking it's finest. However, these qualities are unfortunately the only feature that this film really has going for it.
Kevin Costner is bland in his leading role, spurting forth some of the more dramatic lines in the equally bland script with the abandon of a high school drama student trying his best to gain some additional credit.
Some of De Palma's directorial flourishes fail entirely here, particularly in a zoom into close-up shot of De Niro's face after murdering one of his men brutally with a baseball bat. A once- effective scene now becomes funny, largely thanks to the addition of some corny music. However, the film proves to be entirely watchable and thoroughly enjoyable nevertheless. It has flashes of genius, but overall seems to be a failure in the final product.
Clichéd writing, average performance's from most of the cast and some straight-up laughably phoned in performances make this film one of the most overrated 'classics' of our time.