Scarface (1983) ***1/2
I used to love this film when I was a teenager. And then I sort of disowned it for a long time.
This was partly because of all the merchandising surrounding the film and the "glamorization" of the main character by the Hip Hop world.
Tony Montana is not someone to look up to and that's one of the main problems that I have with the film - the lead character is almost unequivocally despicable. Plenty of film villains are charismatic - Alex DeLarge, Bill The Butcher, Hannibal Lecter, Patrick Bateman, Max Cady, Frank Booth. Despite committing horrible acts, there's always something that makes us "like" them, be it their snappy dialogue, their intelligence, their insanity, their dangerousness.
Tony Montana however, doesn't really have anything going for him that makes me want to care about his "plight". He's crude, uneducated, gains power by killing people and selling drugs, is extremely greedy, destroys everyone near and dear to him, and dies in a "blaze of glory". He only seems to have one principle that he upholds: he won't let another man kill an innocent mother and her two children, so he kills the man instead. I can't help but feel like it was too late in the screenplay for me to feel any kind of sympathy for Montana at this point (or at any point in the film). Blame Oliver Stone.
Despite all of the above, I've warmed back up to the film. It is very well made. I do enjoy it, for the most part. It does have some great moments. I do like the Giorgio Moroder score. It just doesn't feel that much like a Brian De Palma film and the majority (read: just about all) of the people who worship it likely don't even know who De Palma is. There are a few camera shots that bear his trademark style, but otherwise it's not particularly a trademark De Palma film, despite it probably being his most popular film.
I had never previously owned this film throughout its release history on VHS and its many DVD releases. The last time I even watched the film was probably on VHS pre-2000. I decided to finally give it another chance on Blu-ray and I'm glad that I did. Hopefully I'll warm up to it even more on the next viewing.
This was partly because of all the merchandising surrounding the film and the "glamorization" of the main character by the Hip Hop world.
Tony Montana is not someone to look up to and that's one of the main problems that I have with the film - the lead character is almost unequivocally despicable. Plenty of film villains are charismatic - Alex DeLarge, Bill The Butcher, Hannibal Lecter, Patrick Bateman, Max Cady, Frank Booth. Despite committing horrible acts, there's always something that makes us "like" them, be it their snappy dialogue, their intelligence, their insanity, their dangerousness.
Tony Montana however, doesn't really have anything going for him that makes me want to care about his "plight". He's crude, uneducated, gains power by killing people and selling drugs, is extremely greedy, destroys everyone near and dear to him, and dies in a "blaze of glory". He only seems to have one principle that he upholds: he won't let another man kill an innocent mother and her two children, so he kills the man instead. I can't help but feel like it was too late in the screenplay for me to feel any kind of sympathy for Montana at this point (or at any point in the film). Blame Oliver Stone.
Despite all of the above, I've warmed back up to the film. It is very well made. I do enjoy it, for the most part. It does have some great moments. I do like the Giorgio Moroder score. It just doesn't feel that much like a Brian De Palma film and the majority (read: just about all) of the people who worship it likely don't even know who De Palma is. There are a few camera shots that bear his trademark style, but otherwise it's not particularly a trademark De Palma film, despite it probably being his most popular film.
I had never previously owned this film throughout its release history on VHS and its many DVD releases. The last time I even watched the film was probably on VHS pre-2000. I decided to finally give it another chance on Blu-ray and I'm glad that I did. Hopefully I'll warm up to it even more on the next viewing.
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