 |
|
|
|
The Untouchables (1987)
 email this review to a friend
Movie Review by Mitch
September 9th, 2006
|  |
The second review in my look at Brian De Palma is the 1987 action/drama THE UNTOUCHABLES.
It is the time of Prohibition, the time of Al Capone. Eliot Ness (Kevin Costner), along with Jim Malone (Sean Connery), Agent George Stone (Andy Garcia) and Agent Oscar Wallace (Charles Martin Smith) are going to do whatever it takes to bring Capone (Robert DeNiro) down.
I remember seeing this movie when I was younger on cable, and it left an impression on me. At that age (13) it had everything a kid could ask for, guns, blood, and sharp dressed men. Who wouldn't want to be a gangster? After viewing it again at the age of 32, it lacks something. I can't quite put my finger on it, but this film needed some small thing to make it great. I know that as a reviewer I should be able to point out whatever it is, but being a favorite movie from my childhood has skewed my judgment.
The acting was good, Connery's accent not withstanding. The pacing of the plot was fine. The action was dramatic and not over done. It seems to me that DePalma likes to use slow motion to heighten the tension in his climactic scenes. I have noticed this in this film and FEMME FATALE. Is this a De Palma trademark?
Kevin Costner plays Ness as the most straight-laced Treasury Agent I have ever seen. Even his wife thinks so, at one point she jokes about naming their son J. Edgar. He is almost the personification of the Law. Speaking in complete, carefully enunciated and precise sentences, he does everything by the book. Until he recruits Sean Connery's slang speaking, butt kicking Irish beat cop. Connery has the right attitude, but his accent keeps switching from the Irish it's supposed to be and the Scottish that is his real accent. Andy Garcia plays his straight out of the Academy Italian sharpshooter pretty close to the vest. He's good at shooting and he wants to be a cop. That's about all there is to him. DeNiro, what can you say about him. He is the man in almost everything he chooses to do. One minute he is a seemingly respectable business man and in the next, he's bashing a guy's head in with a baseball bat.
The picture was pretty good but the sound left something to be desired. Not the sound mix but the effects themselves. A lot of the gunshots were poorly edited in and there was quite a bit of bad dubbing. The music was perfect. Swanky with a little feel of 80's thrown in. If that main title doesn't get you excited then nothing in this movie will.
Included in the special features is the original featurette "The Men" from 1987. New featurettes included are "The Cast and the Script", "Production Stories", "Reinventing the Genre", and "The Classic".
Even though it's missing something, I still enjoyed this almost as much as I did as a kid. So far I think DePalma is doing a pretty good job at keeping me entertained. If you like gangster films, give this one a shot. I even heard a rumor that there are plans for a prequel.
Until Geraldo get's a crack at another safe,
keep reading.
Mitch Emerson
email this review to a friend
Comment on this Review:
Sorry, you must be a member to add comments to reviews.
Join or Login. |
 | SHAYNE
Feb 1, 2007 11:23 AM
| |
| Good Gangster movie... Great cast... enough said. |
 Subscribe to MatchFlick Movie Reviews through RSS
|
