Sorry about the new thread, but let's talk about Scarface without dumbasses trying to pretend that Indiana Jones, The Godfather, and Die Hard are comparable films. I've done a lot of PCP in my life, but not that much.
We all knew what my bias was going into the movie, so let's not recap that. We also know that I LURVE Oliver Stone, and as a homosexual man, the mere mention of Giorgio Moroder kind of makes me ejaculate. Let's just put all my preconceived notions aside, and let me try to tackle this one tabula rasa.
Scarface is kinda like a combination of the mafia porn epics and action genres. The violence is done very well, and it is relatively abundant, and the mafia porn, at times, works. The key thing that makes the movie not that good is the running time. De Palma spent lots of time shooting action scenes, and lots of time shooting non action scenes, but when it came time to put them in a pot and make himself up a stew, the ensuing running time more resembled a mafia epic than an action movie. The visceral thrills are the most memorable part of this movie, and when your movie is based on that sort of things, there is no possible way you can justify a 3 fucking hour running time. Also, Michelle Pfeiffer has no real purpose in the movie, even going so far as to completely disappear with no real consequence on the movie. You cut out the bitches, you shave off an hour of wasted screen time, easily.
So, where to start the cutting? Well, like Stone's later Natural Born Killers, there's abundant excess, and not in the thematic sense. Tony's plot with his sister? Largely irrelevant! We are supposed to buy that he loves her more than anything, that she is his Beethoven's Ninth, but the movie fails to sell the relationship, because they only appear in ONE scene together before their relationship turns to shit. Now, don't get me wrong, I understand that in movies, cuts have to be made, but how the fuck is it that in a three hour running time, they couldn't believably set up a textbook character relationship properly? You cut his sister's subplot, you lose nothing of value. You just need to come up with another plot device to make Pacino pull a trigger in the third act.
And hey! That classical three act structure? It does the movie more harm than good, because up until the third act, the downfall, it seems like most of the more IMPORTANT shit is being done off camera. In act one, Tony does the job with the chainsaw scene. And then YADA YADA YADA he is a higher up, then he ends up taking over the top and YADA YADA YADA he has influence over the eastern seaboard. Now, Tony's ambition is probably the most sold part of his character, but we know he's not a particularly smart man, yet smart things appear to be happening during the YADA YADAs between acts. The movie is apparently trying to seem like some sort of Greek drama, but let's face it folks, this is like a greek drama starring, I dunno, Elmer Fudd. In short, this movie could have said all it needed to be said in 90 minutes.
Pacino's acting is a better than I remember it, but it's still not very good. I'll concede a little and say this poor casting decision was De Palma's fault, not Pacino's. I guess Pacino does a decent job with the material he has, although he does Keanu up that accent a little too frequently, and on the rare occasions he gets it right, it sounds a bit stiff. He yells all awesome, though.
Giorgio Moroder's score is pretty fuckin' great. COMPLETELY out of place--in the one place it would fit, the club scenes, pop music is playing--but hey, it's motherfuckin' Giorgio!
The movie also does have a tendency to look kinda cheap. The interior scenes are roses, but the exterior scenes are ehhhhhhhhhh. I don't particularly think that is De Palma's fault. He wanted to shoot on location in Florida, but he got stuck shooting in LA. Maybe he didn't handle it particularly gracefully, but the visuals are never so bad that it takes me out of the movie.
So I think it is on the low end of the decent scale. Caligula is more entertaining and interesting than this. I guess Scarface is a sort of must see due to the unfair amount of influence it's had on our culture. It's kind of sad seeing Pacino in full-on ridiculous mode, and recognizing that his cheesy little persona, from demeanor to his game with women, has inspired so many people dumbasses. DUMBASSES DUMBASSES DUMBASSES.
I give it a Dumbledore out of Gay.
