 Tagline: He loved the American Dream. With a Vengeance. One of the most influential gangster epics of all time, Scarface is the rags-to-riches story of Cuban immigrant Tony "Scarface" Montana, who finds wealth, power and passion beyond his wildest dreams...at a price he never imagined. From acclaimed director Brian De Palma (Carlito's Way) and Oscar®-winning writer Oliver Stone (Born on the Fourth of July), this action-packed Blu-ray features an eye-popping remastered picture, explosive 7.1 audio track and exclusive bonus features. A modern-day classic, Scarface stars Academy Award® winner Al Pacino (The Godfather) in an unforgettable performance as one of the most ruthless gangsters ever depicted on film and Academy Award® nominee Michelle Pfeiffer (The Fabulous Baker Boys). Storyline: Tony Montana manages to leave Cuba during the Mariel exodus of 1980. He finds himself in a Florida refugee camp but his friend Manny has a way out for them: undertake a contract killing and arrangements will be made to get a green card. He's soon working for drug dealer Frank Lopez and shows his mettle when a deal with Columbian drug dealers goes bad. He also brings a new level of violence to Miami. Tony is protective of his younger sister but his mother knows what he does for a living and disowns him. Tony is impatient and wants it all however, including Frank's empire and his mistress Elvira Hancock. Once at the top however, Tony's outrageous actions make him a target and everything comes crumbling down. Written by garykmcd Reviewer's Note: Reviewed by Kenneth Brown on August 25, 2011 -- The scene that best captures everything that makes Scarface, well... Scarface? When Tony offers Ernie a job. That's right, when Tony offers Ernie a job. No chainsaws, no Bolivian helicopters, no nightclub hits, no cock-ah-roaches or say-hellos, no M16-mounted grenade launchers, no lines of llello (pronounced yey-yo for the uninitiated), no showers of blood or barrage of bullets. The film's choice scenes may stick to the roof of your brain, but they're merely pulpy pleasures. They're not the things that make the film sizzle. They're not the things that make it tick. Scarface, penned with a razor blade by Oliver Stone and directed with a fierce vengeance by director Brian De Palma, is a film of startling fury, brutal savagery and operatic shock and awe; elements that have earned the critically divisive 1983 crime drama the fervent cult following it enjoys today. And yet it's Stone and De Palma's command of suspense, volatility and tension -- the quiet moments before and, in Ernie's case, after every Pacino storm -- that makes Scarface so much more than the unhinged, hyper-violent, overindulgent schlock so many have unjustly labeled it. In May 1980, Fidel Castro opened the harbor at Mariel, Cuba with the apparent intention of letting some of his people join their relatives in the United States. Within seventy-two hours, 3,000 U.S. boats were headed for Cuba. It soon became evident that Castro was forcing the boat owners to carry back with them not only their relatives, but the dregs of his jails. Of the 125,000 refugees that landed in Florida, an estimated 25,000 had criminal records. Scarface tracks the ruthless rise (and spectacular fall) of Tony Montana (Al Pacino), a Cuban refugee who comes to Miami and soon sets his sights on more than the entry-level American Dream tends to offer. With lifelong best friend Manny Ribera (Steven Bauer) in tow, Tony locks and loads his way up the criminal ladder, killing anyone who crosses him, exacting vengeance on his enemies and honing his bloody business sense. He snags a pair of green cards by assassinating a former Cuban official, cuts his teeth running dope for a dealer named Frank Lopez (Robert Loggia), eventually makes inroads with a Bolivian distributor (Paul Shenar), steps up when Frank begins to slip, and soon becomes Miami's most powerful and most feared kingpin. But for as much as Tony comes to despise Lopez, he neglects to take two important lessons to heart: "don't underestimate the other guy's greed" and "don't get high on your own supply." Blinded by excess and cocaine, Tony begins to lose control; control of his empire, control of his sister (Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio), control of his wife (Michelle Pfeiffer) and, inevitably, control of himself. He pushes everyone away until he only has one friend left at his side. One little friend... Stone folds a surprising amount of history (or current events, as it were) into the fabric of Scarface and the result is a film that revels in grand theatrics yet resonates on a visceral and, yes, even cerebral level. It was nothing less than a cultural epicenter in the early '80s, and it's nothing less than a cinematic epicenter some twenty-years later. To say it caused outrage decades before it transformed into the cult classic it is today would be a grotesque understatement; to say it hasn't had a profound effect on film as we know it, even more so. It's not a Thinking Man's gangster pic; I haven't lost my mind. The Godfather and Goodfellas delve into deeper, meatier stuff, and do so to more intriguing ends. But as often as Scarface is cast aside as monstrous melodrama, dismissed as amoral or gratuitous, for all the wincing, cringing and head-shaking it invites, there's a tremendous amount of activity brewing beneath its surface. Tony is driven by urges that are never explained, rationalized or satisfied. He doesn't enjoy his wealth, he just has an unquenchable thirst for more and more of it. He doesn't need respect, his narcissism simply demands it. He doesn't love Elvira, he simply has to have her. And, even when he gets her, we're never privy to anything remotely healthy in their relationship. (Despite Tony and Manny's professed love of women, Scarface is a misogynistic, arguably asexual, outing. Killing is the most intimate act Tony performs on screen, and he has little compassion for even those closest to him. He wants Elvira, but why? He wants a son, but why?) Everything becomes a conquest without a reward, a thrill without a payoff, a hunger without any satisfaction. Tony is a miserable beast of burden and his misery only pushes him to heap more weight in his cart. He's an addict in every sense, and few other films have captured the feverish madness addiction causes, whether that addiction is to money, cocaine, influence or power. "The World Is Yours" indeed. Pacino leaves "over-the-top" bloodied, battered and crumpled on the ground, climbing to heights even his lick-smacking Lucifer didn't brave in The Devil's Advocate. He doesn't care if anyone believes his drug-addled bogeyman exists, so long as they're terrified a creature like Montana could come snarling out of their closet at any moment. And because Tony adheres to a code of underworld ethics of his own making, it's Pacino's careful (so careful it seems careless) balance of hothead, businessman, comedian, dread prince and uncorked maniac that makes Montana such an unpredictable, funny, inexplicably magnetic, almost tragic protagonist. (Lest we forget, a man by the name of William Shakespeare dreamed up temperamental madmen and self-destructive power-mongers on a regular basis. Stone is no Shakespeare, but I suspect Uncle Will would be fascinated with Montana all the same.) De Palma, capable a filmmaker as he is (or was before 1990 and his last ten films rendered him inert), simply aims Pacino and fires; God help whatever scene is standing in his path. Fortunately, De Palma has such a firm grip on Pacino's performance and Stone's screenplay that his shots rarely miss, even when they hit wide and appear wild and untrained. There's a deliberate method to his chaos and a sense to his senselessness that will forever mystify some viewers and continue to divide critics and audiences alike. It's too long, I know. (Although I'm not sure what De Palma could have cut away without slicing into the film's vital organs.) It doesn't scrutinize Montana's motivations as much as I'd like, I'll admit. And it isn't one I feel the need to revisit very often. (Again, it isn't The Godfather or Goodfellas.) That said, it's a smarter film than many assume and a more durable cult classic than some have suggested. I think it's safe to say it isn't going anywhere soon. Scarface may not be king, but as the mad prince of gangster cinema, it still wields frightening sway over its subjects, even some twenty-eight years after its release. Love it or loathe it, De Palma's crime epic is a tour de force, Stone's script remains one of his most startling, and Pacino's performance holds everything in its orbit. Universal's Blu-ray release captures it all well. Its video transfer has a variety of issues, but stands head and shoulders above its DVD counterpart; its DTS-HD Master Audio 7.1 will strike some as overkill, but impresses nonetheless; and its supplemental package, while relegating the original 1932 Scarface to a standard DVD, has plenty of excellent extras to go around. Like the film itself, the Blu-ray release of Scarface isn't perfect. It's worth serious consideration, though, so proceed accordingly. Cast Notes: Al Pacino (Tony Montana), Steven Bauer (Manny Ribera), Michelle Pfeiffer (Elvira Hancock), Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio (Gina Montana), Robert Loggia (Frank Lopez), Miriam Colon (Mama Montana), F. Murray Abraham (Omar Suarez), Paul Shenar (Alejandro Sosa), Harris Yulin (Mel Bernstein), Ángel Salazar (Chi Chi), Arnaldo Santana (Ernie), Pepe Serna (Angel), Michael P. Moran (Nick The Pig), Al Israel (Hector The Toad), Dennis Holahan (Jerry The Banker).
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