Scarface (1983)

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  TheMovieDiorama

  9 / 10

  Scarface lathers itself in memorable quotes, stylised violence and mountains of cocaine. Brian De Palma remade the 1932 classic and exclaimed to Hollywood "say hello to my little friend!". Modernising it to colossal heights, thus creating one of the greatest gangster epics of all time. Relentlessly referenced in pop culture, my expectations were quite high. Suffice to say, they were met. We witness the irrepressible rise of Cuban refugee Tony Montana, as he enters the illegal drug business, and the eventual fall from decadence. The classic, to quote Drake, "starting from the bottom now we're here" narrative has consistently been a reliable structure. Enabling central character development whilst building an intimidating environment that allows for personality adaptation. The fictional Montana is a testament to this. Observing the manifestation of greed, lust and envy disguising the apparent loneliness and selfish behaviour of Montana. Money powers him, and De Palma's focus on the requirement of desiring the world makes him both ambitious and arrogant. Even when all can be achieved, his artificial greed beckons him to want more, consequently leading to his demise. A fascinating character study that was brought to life by the legend that is Pacino. Exaggerative, hyperactive, aggressive and commanding. Pacino embodied Montana and gave life to the drug kingpin. De Palma's lightning pace seamlessly combined frantic stylised action with punchy dialogue, whilst also introducing frequent long takes to spice up the Miami beach. Stone's screenplay is littered with memorability. "Her womb is polluted", "you want to play games?" and enough F-bombs to redefine the word profanity. Seriously, every other word! Plenty of exasperated action, particularly the mansion shootout, that excessively assist the visualisation of the crime world. My only criticism is with some of the song choices in the soundtrack, it comes off as trashy and I think Scarface is better than that. Despite the overlong runtime, this is 80s gangster mayhem and the sheer craziness from both Pacino and De Palma adds to the bloody charm.

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