Movie Review-Scarface

OBLIGATORY SPOILER WARNING

Next on the chopping block is Brian DePalma’s 1983 remake of Scarface starring Al Pacino and Michelle Pfeiffer.  Recently, I’ve become quite interested in the mobster genre having watched mob films and TV shows like the Sopranos, the Godfather and Goodfellas just to name a few.  This meant that Scarface was the next logical film for me to watch, even if it focuses on cartels rather than the Mafia.

Scarface follows the progression of Tony Montana (Al Pacino) and his close friends and associates, from Cuban immigrants to high ranking members of a drug cartel in Miama, Florida, focusing on the relationships forged out of these cartels, as well as the promises and families that are broken because of them.   Scarface has become an undisputed classic in the mobster genre and has given way to some of the most quotable lines in film history, most notably: “first you get the money, then you get the power and then you get the women” and “say hello to my little friend!”

The good: Firstly, I think Pacino gives a commendable performance as Montana.  He is suitably psychotic in his role, but also very manipulative and subtle too.  I also really like how the film explored the effect that crime can have on civilians.  The most notable example is Montana’s own family and mother who curses at him and screams at him to leave, upon him bringing filthy blood money into their home.  It is a hard-hitting message about the true realities of this kind of life.  Furthermore, in my favourite scene of the film, Montana’s wife leaves him in a busy restaurant and Montana chastises everyone watching him for their judgemental and hypocritical behaviour.  He argues that each of them have holier-than-thou attitudes and they enjoy scapegoating people like him, so that they can validate their own behaviour and feel better about themselves.  I felt that this was a very good commentary on the morality that accompanies crime.  

The bad: I felt that this film had quite a lot of bad points that makes it a little overrated.  Firstly, in certain places it was very talky and it didn’t have as many explosions or shootings that I would expect from a mobster film.  Granted, the concluding scene was action-filled, but this was really just an exception.  As a result of this, the film was slow in places and it did lose my interest.  As an extension of this, I didn’t enjoy how the film was told.  Rather than a sequential narrative, where one event followed another, the narrative was closer to episodic, with each event being self-contained and no discernible connection to the next.  For this reason, I found the film hard to follow.  Finally, Scarface had too many characters.  Other than Montana and his best friend Manny, I found it difficult to keep track of who was who.  I was left confused at the film’s conclusion over who had whacked Montana.  When Wikipedia told me it was Sosa, this only deepened my confusion, as I struggled to remember who this character was.

The ugly: All of the open-necked shirts.  I saw more middle-aged hairy men’s chest in 2 and a half hours than I’ve seen in a lifetime.

Rating: Good

Whilst this film was good, I certainly don’t think it’s a “classic in the mobster genre,” definitely not in comparison to the Godfather or Goodfellas which are worthier of the title.  Whilst Montana had the ferocity of a sabre-toothed tiger, the film’s pace and tone was at certain times, glacial at best.

Thanks for reading

Review for Terminator 2: Judgement Day

SPOILERS SPOILERS SPOILERS SPOILERS WARNING HERE BE SPOILERS

Terminator 2: Judgement Day.  The logical film to watch after the first Terminator.  Terminator 2 is one of the sequels which people usually say is better than the original.  Is this the case? Yes.  I argue it is and I argue that T2 is better than the Terminator in a number of ways.

T2 focuses on the much more likeable Sarah Connor who has been committed to a mental asylum staffed by abusive, condescending and downright creepy orderlies and doctors (seriously, what the hell was with that orderly licking Sarah’s face) after she tried to spread her story about the Terminators.  Her son, John Connor, your average, stereotypical, annoying, rebellious, pre-teen brat who lives with foster parents, is the only one that believes her.  For the first part of the film, John is also accompanied by another annoying bratty pre-teen called Tim who seems to be rebelling against having a smart and attractive haircut, mullets never look good, but he’s quickly forgotten about.  Sarah and John Connor are pursued by the Terminator T1000 even more advanced and frightening, than Arnold Schwarzenegger, and played brilliantly by Robert Patrick.  Arnie himself has turned from a villain into an anti-hero of sorts and is sent back in time to protect Sarah and John Connor.  Other than running away from the T1000, Sarah and John aim to change history by destroying the technology that led to the creation of Skynet and the Terminators.

The Good: Firstly, we have to start with the theme tune and opening credits.  The repetitive dun-dun-dun-dun is suitably dramatic, which then gives away to a melancholic and ominous melody.  In some ways, the simplistic beat is reminiscent of the simplicity of the Jaws theme tune.  The opening credits are appropriately chilling: showing a playground engulfed by flame, perhaps demonstrating how humanity in our over-reliance on technology have been lulled into a false class consciousness and are unprepared for what is to come.  I also felt that old Arnie and Sarah were a lot better in this film.  Sarah has progressed far from the whiny, sobbing mess that she was and is now a smart, battle-worn bad ass, much like Kyle Reese.  Now that Schwarzenegger is an anti-hero, I think he does more in this film, most prominently fuelling the important observations that the film raises about artificial intelligence and what it means to be human, such as a desire to learn and improve or an ability to heal yourself.  This leads me into my next point about Robert Patrick as the T1000.  His near silent and cold persona was a very welcome contrast to Schwarzenegger’s cheesy one-liners.  The visuals in this film were great too.  I loved seeing the T1000’s shapeshifting abilities, which strongly reminded me of the changelings in Star Trek Deep Space Nine, such as when the T1000 emerged out of the tiled floor.  Like the first film, T2 also has its elements of humour, most notably when John Connor tries to teach Schwarzenegger some, what I assume is early 90’s slang.  Another thing I really liked the film was the inclusion of Miles Dyson, the scientist behind Skynet, who rather than stubbornly sticking to his research, gives his life to destroy it.  Lastly, the film had its moments of horror as well, most notably when Sarah Connor dreams of a nuclear explosion overcoming a playground of children and we see countless people catch fire and turn to dust, which was also extremely well done.

The bad: As I have previously said, this film vastly improved on the criticisms present within its predecessors.  It only has one flash-forward that happens at the beginning of the film, which very much puts the viewer in media res and isn’t nearly as disorientating as having flash-forwards in the middle of the film.  The film doesn’t overdo the guns and explosions either, which I enjoyed.  I only have a few minor criticisms.  Firstly, I think that T2 is over-reliant on character stereotypes, such as the condescending and abusive orderlies or the rebellious John Connor.  And secondly, there are a couple of clichés that the film could have omitted: John Connor’s bike failing when he tries to escape the T1000 and Arnie and John being able to ride away from the explosion without a single burn on their backs.

The Ugly: Tim’s mullet.

Rating: Awesome

All in all, this is another wholly great film, with more good than bad.  However, its few minor criticisms stop it from being superlative.  That notwithstanding, this is still a very intense, entertaining watch that leaves more than one character with scars on their faces.

Thanks for reading and as me old dad used to say you can’t cook minute rice in a minute.  The rice is fast.  The microwave’s fast.  You’ve got a split second…you can never make it.  

Image taken from Wikipedia

Review of the Terminator

SPOILERS SPOILERS SPOILERS SPOILER ALERT SPOILERS

The first film that I’ll be reviewing is James Cameron’s 1984 ‘the Terminator.’  As with all my reviews, I shall keep this succinct, accessible and interesting.  I chose to start with this film, as it’s just one of those films that you’re expected to watch, isn’t it? Its engagement with issues of artificial intelligence and sentience within machines means that it is supposed to be one of the best films ever made.  Is it the best? No, but it is pretty close.

The film follows the ditzy, young waitress, Sarah Connor, (Linda Hamilton), who unbeknownst to her will mother the leader of the human resistance against the evil cyborgs, as she is relentlessly pursued by ‘the Terminator,’ (Arnold Schwarzenegger) in what is arguably his most famous role, who aims to change history by killing Sarah Connor before she can ever give birth to her son.  Sarah Connor is assisted by a human soldier from the future: Kyle Reese, who is arguably the more attractive and likeable of the two.  His experience and intuition gained by his battle-worn experience is a welcome contrast to Sarah Connor’s sobbing and complaining.  Although, she has been thrust into an entirely unfamiliar world, where a terrifying cyborg is trying to kill her, so I guess it’s understandable, but is still quite annoying.  

So the good.  Well, firstly the narrative stays consistently good throughout the film.  Cameron does well in keeping the suspense of the film high, whilst also injecting humour, which stops the film from becoming dark.  Notable examples include Rick mistaking Sarah for his girlfriend Ginger and using dirty talk on her and Schwarzenegger telling the apartment cleaner to “fuck off.” The visuals of the film were also very impressive.   The ‘Terminator’ looked suitably terrifying with its red laser eyes and shining metal body.  The scene where he rises from the fire is quite frightening, if a little predictable.  I also quite liked the inclusion of the police.  Whilst they only served as cannon fodder for Schwarzenegger, I felt like they added a strong human element to the film.  Perhaps they’re even a precursor to the human resistance fighting against the cyborgs in the future, although I could be looking too much into it.  

Now the bad.  Firstly, I’m going to come out and say it, I think that ‘the Terminator’ wasn’t as strong of a villain as it could have been.  Other than shooting pretty much anything that moved and spouting off cheesy lines, he didn’t really do much.  Granted, that was the role really required of him, but I still felt like more could have been brought to it.  I also didn’t like the flash-forwards to the war between the humans and the cyborgs.  Whilst they were important at displaying the sheer brutality of the war and the desperation of the humans, I felt like they were out of place and quite disjointing.  When the flash-forwards appeared, I felt that I had been transplanted from the present narrative and shoved into a completely new location, which I didn’t appreciate.  As more minor criticisms, I felt that at times they substituted parts of the narrative for explosions and gunfire, which is a flaw in a lot of films (I'm looking at you Michael Bay) and I predicted Kyle Reese being John Connor’s father.  But, at least, the film ended on a positive note: Sarah Connor riding into the oncoming storm that is Judgement Day.

Overall, I would rate this film as Awesome.  It was very good, but it had a few too many criticisms to make it perfect.  Thanks for reading and as me old dad used to say, I only married her for a bet.