The Movie Diorama
Harking back to those classic films where henchmen are firing tommy guns on the streets of Prohibition-era America. There are loads of films depicting this time in history, but not all of them are nearly as fun as this. A federal agent vows to bring down the legendary kingpin Al Capone where an experienced police officer teaches the agent how to beat the mob. It's just the classic story of good versus evil. Law against crime. The beauty of such a simple premise allows the ability to have rich characters and an absorbing world. The production values are off the charts, this truly felt like Chicago and the costumes were authentic. Whilst the story as a whole is not particularly memorable, the film is built up on set pieces to keep the viewer enthralled. A great example would be a shootout in a train station where a baby in a pram is slowly falling down some stairs. That, is what I will remember. Acting was solid all round, Costner and De Niro were great however it was the legendary Sean Connery that made me smile. He is such a natural talent on screen, his charisma just shines through instantaneously. The character Eliot Ness' development was well executed where he starts to take the law into his own hands towards to the end. I would've liked to have seen Al Capone being used more in the film, but I fully realise that he got his henchmen to do the dirty work which is fine. Also admired one scene where Brian DePalma switches to a POV shot of a man sent to kill a police officer. Slyly moving throughout the house, I thought it was a creative method. The level of violence is hit and miss and sometimes borders on cheap but for the most part it was gritty and exciting to watch. The Untouchables is definitely one of the most entertaining films of its genre and I can easily imagine myself watching it again soon.
cybrsrch
The biggest issue I have with this movie, short of Kevin Costner's cardboard uninspired performance, is the lack of urgency in scenes that demand it, the overly long awkward pause, the slow trot as you are supposed to be running, sitting behind the cabin having a long conversation as the royal Mounties make an unwanted attack, it just seems everyone is far too casual and laded back, even in the face of death, nothing seems to get more than a brief notice. Overall a mediocre film that could of been epic, but the direction was no where to be found, I would guess many of these scenes were one take, because no one cared
paul-672-180422
The plot's pretty good, the staircase scene near the end with Costner & Garcia is one of my favourite in cinematic history, but what sets this apart is the screen enormous presence of DeNiro and Connery being DeNiro-ish and Connery-ish, Costner being well-cast, Garcia's semi-controlled brashness, and Charles Martin Smith's curiously lovable role. All that with the backdrop of some of Ennio Morricone's finest soundtrack-writing. It's a gut-wrencher every time I watch it.
eagandersongil
Brian de Palm is one of the directors who most copied the best sense of the word- Alfred Hitchcock, and "The Untouchables," is a gangster psychological thriller, is a thought-provoking movie, full of features and good performances, although extremely caricature and dated. The script tells the story of Al Capone from the point of view of his executioners, who despite all the crimes committed by the dry law kingpin, he was convicted of tax evasion, a story so incredible that it looks like a sweet fiction, though Extremely flowery and romanticized, in very general lines, the story is true. The screenplay tells the story of four men, an accountant, an almost retired police officer, a police officer who has not even finished the academy yet, and a treasury agent, all obstinate to capture Al Capone. We have betrayal, death and demonstration of power, and how simply the act of taking away the drink (drink) of people would cause chaos and gigantic contraband, proving also that in the case of alcohol, the restriction only created a parallel market. Technically, the film has footage that looks like a 1950s movie, and that's nice, although sometimes I'm a bit of a shame, because Hitchcock's style is copied, and copied very well, we have an exquisite camera job, With prefect angles, plans sequences, against plounge, always privileged the suspense, in addition to a soundtrack that has a beautiful song and very good (even being one of suspense in a film of mafia,) already the rest of the track often gets half Dislocated from the rest of the film, but Brian always makes a point of guiding the scenes from his extremely varied track, which refers to the western to pop music, we also have a beautiful photograph that shouts that the film was made into film, it is a film Which already causes nostalgia, even for the 80's. Kevin Costner is excellent, conveying an air of patriotism and honesty blended with anger, which suits his partner, and the film's great highlight in terms of Performances that is the wonderful Sean Connery, ale more, even if with little screen time, Robert De Niro is giant and completely scary when it appears. Brian of Palm is sure to have traumas of his great "Scarface" to be completely ignored of the great festivals and even of big cinemas due to its violence, with that, in "The Untouchables" he censures the violence and diminishes the very concept of it, and This harms his film because it takes away the terror of Al Capone's actions by taking the fear out of his viewer (even in the taco scene, which was done precisely to make the viewer feel the fear, does not work because it is badly made, and even in the Viscerality is silly); finally, "The Untouchables" is a good suspense thriller mafia movie, which appeals too much.
