The Untouchables

Rating: 7/10 (17 September 2008)

Capone: "I'm gonna tell you something. Somebody messes with me, I'm gonna mess with with him. Somebody steals from me, I'm gonna say you stole. Not talk to him for spitting on the sidewalk. Understand? Now, I have done nothing to harm these people but they are angered with me, so what do they do, doctor up some income tax, for which they have no case. To speak to me like me, no, to harass a peaceful man. I pray to god if I ever had a grievance I'd have a little more self respect. One more thing, you have an all out prize fight, you wait until the fight is over, one guy is left standing. And that's how you know who won." Kevin Costner stars as Ness, a federal agent who has come to Chicago during the Prohibition Era, when corruption in the local police department is rampant. His mission is to put crime lord Capone (Robert De Niro) out of business, but Capone is so powerful and popular that Ness is not taken seriously by the law or the press. One night, discouraged, he meets a veteran patrolman, Jimmy Malone (Sean Connery), and discovers that the acerbic Irishman is the one honest man he's been seeking. Malone has soon helped Ness recruit a gunslinger rookie, George Stone (Andy Garcia), and, joined by nebbish accountant Oscar Wallace (Charles Martin Smith), the men doggedly pursue Capone and his illegal interests. At first a laughingstock, Ness soon has Capone outraged over his and Malone's sometimes law-bending tactics, and the vain mobster strikes back in vicious style. Ultimately, it is the most unexpected and minor of crimes, tax evasion, which proves Capone's undoing.
A pretty amazing film by Scarface director Brian De Palma. One of De Palma's best although I still consider his epic film Scarface as his best film ever but still, this film delivers all the goods when it comes to the gangster genre. I can't really say that it was excellent because the script to me seems lacking and sometimes it suffers from plot holes and a cheesy, over the top death scene. It was a good death (I won't mention who dies for the sake of spoilers) but it was cheesy. Good, in a cheesy kind of way.
Although, I think what made this film work was the superb acting by Class A Hollywood stars. You got Robert De Niro as Al Capone (the "baseball" scene is an instant favorite of mine), the guy never made a bad film according to my book. And in every film that he stars in, he gets better and better and better. De Niro is a method actor and The Untouchables just showed us how committed he really is to the job.
On the other side of the law, you got Kevin Costner, Sean Connery and Andy Garcia, who all gave pretty impressive performances.