A tough, uncomprimising thriller

Rating: Null/10 (30 July 2000)

Brian De Palma scores in yet another good gangster flick "The
Untouchables." Ranking alongside other big-city De Palma mafioso
movies like "Carlito's Way" and "Scarface," "The Untouchables"
has the look and feel of the gritty years of the 30's, where Al
Capone (played brilliantly by Robert DeNiro) ruled the streets
of Chicago. Big Al controlled everthing from illegal alcohol
distrubutions to even small groups of police officers. It seems
no one can stop the head mobster and his reign of corrupt
terror, except one man, treasury agent Elliot Ness (Kevin
Costner), who assembles a group of 4 good and trustworthy cops,
to take down Capone's big business. This elite police group
consists of Jim Malone (Sean Connery, winning a deserving Oscar
for his role here), a veteran beat cop who shows Ness how to
beat the odds no matter how big they are. The two other members
are George Stone (Andy Garcia), a sharpshooter, and a bookworm
named Oscar Wallace (Charles Martin Smith), who both have what
it takes to serve justice in the already-barren town of Chicago.
Everyone does a fine job of acting in this thriller, even
Costner, who I think isn't really a great actor. Connery almost
outshines everyone else in the movie, even his younger leads
Costner and DeNiro. Another standout performance is by Billy
Drago, who played Capone's right-hand man Frank Nitti, whose
main hobby in life is to fill people with lead. Thanks to the
role of Nitti, it seems that Drago is typecasted to play
villains all the time, because he's so damn go