The Untouchables MPAA Rating: R/ Genre: Crime Drama/ Stars: Kevin Costner, Sean Connery, Robert DeNiro, Andy Garcia, Charles Martin Smith, Billy Drago, Patricia Clarkson/ Runtime: 119 minutes The Untouchables truly is a brilliant, stylish and unforgettable classic and one of the greatest gangster films ever made. Filled with excellent direction, a great cast, a powerful film score, an amazing script and fantastic cinematography, The Untouchables truly is Brian De Palma, Crime Drama and just Film at its best. Based on the television series and book of the same name and set in Chicago, Illinois in the 1930s during Prohibition, The Untouchables tells the story of Elliot Ness (Kevin Costner), a Federal agent in the Treasury Department who has been brought to Chicago to stop the flow of illegal liquor and to stop gangster crime boss Al Capone (Robert DeNiro). After finding little success due to rampant corruption in the Chicago police department, a fed-up Elliot enlists the help of veteran Chicago cop Jim Malone (Sean Connery) to help form a team of cops to get Capone. Now, with the help of two other cops Oscar Wallace (Charles Martin Smith) and George Stone (Andy Garcia), Elliot and Jim prepare to take down Capone at all costs and do it the Chicago way. Now The Untouchables is one of those excellent films that is an instant classic from beginning to end and is a film that you will never forget and it’s also a film where everything the direction, the script, the cast and the score just seem to work in a flawless and free flowing way. Now this film is an epic crime drama that actually does a good job of pulling the viewer into the world of the violent Prohibition era of the 1930s in Chicago where violence is the name of the game and the only law in Chicago is the one that’s written with a gun and money and gangsters rule the world. The Untouchables is a great film because of the way it rewrites history and takes real life characters (Elliot Ness, Al Capone) and puts them in a fictional tale that feels very real but in a cinematic way and everything in the film is bigger than life. I know some critics and viewers who have complained about this film not being realistic or true to real life events but to them I say the following: The Untouchables is a movie of entertainment not a documentary. Not only that but The Untouchables is a great gangster film and one of the few gangster films where the events are mostly told from the cops point of view and not the gangsters and instead of rooting for the gangsters you are, in a truly rare instance, rooting for the cops in a battle of good and evil and you really find yourself wanting The Untouchables to win. The cinematography by Stephen H. Burum is beautiful and visually stunning, with Burum bringing a stylish feel to the film where the atmosphere is dark with harsh lighting at night with blue colors and beautiful orange and yellow lighting during the day while bringing an accurate feel of Chicago in the 1930s. Flawlessly, The Untouchables also balances out the light and dark not just with the characters but with the cinematography. Also the main character Elliot Ness and Jim Malone are great together because it’s almost like a father and son relationship with Jim trying to teach Elliot the ways of how Chicago works and how one gets Al Capone whereas Elliot wants to do everything within the law, Jim tells Elliot to do the Chicago way with a gun and aggressiveness and take down Capone that way, and the relationship between Elliot and Jim is truly classic and will stay with you long after the film is through. Now Al Capone in The Untouchables is portrayed as being a larger than life gangster who rules the city of Chicago with a gun and iron hand but is loved by the media because of his charisma but underneath that charisma is a guy that is evil and brutal he will kill you if he gets the chance or if you get in his way so in a sense Capone in this film is evil personified. The screenplay by David Mamet is excellent and memorable, with Mamet giving the main characters tough and gritty dialog that reflects Chicago but that’s also done in Mamet’s masterful style and most of the great scenes with Mamet’s dialog is classic and doesn’t miss a beat. The action and gunfight scenes in the film are also great and electrifying because each is done with fantastic build-up and suspense and when they happen you are on the edge of your seat especially the train station scene which in my opinion is one of the best action scenes I’ve ever seen. The ending of The Untouchables is also wonderful and will have you cheering at the screen and is one of the many reasons The Untouchables is a classic. The whole cast is just absolutely amazing. Kevin Costner is brilliant as Elliot Ness, with Costner bringing optimism, toughness and depth to the role. Sean Connery earned a Best Supporting Actor Oscar for his excellent performance as Jim Malone, and Connery really brings grit, humor and greatness to the role and has great chemistry and scenes with Costner. Charles Martin Smith is wonderful as Agent Oscar Wallace, a slightly nebbish accountant and quite honestly the least-likely member of The Untouchables that is a member of the squad. Andy Garcia is fantastic as George Stone, a slightly hotheaded cop that is a great sharpshooter. Robert DeNiro is excellent and at his best as Al Capone, with DeNiro bringing a charisma to a man that truly is pure evil and DeNiro brings all that and so much more to the role. Billy Drago is also great and unforgettable as Frank Nitti, Capone’s #1 hit man. The direction by Brian De Palma is brilliant and stylish, with De Palma always moving the camera using great camera angles as well as zooms and close-ups and giving the film a masterful visual style. The score by Ennio Morricone is excellent, epic, powerful and truly one of the greatest scores in movie history. Morricone’s score is big, stylish and unforgettable and fits in with the tone of the movie and matches every scene in the film and raises the film to a higher level. All in all if you love Brian De Palma, Crime Dramas, Gangster Films or films in general, I highly suggest you see The Untouchables, a brilliant and unforgettable classic that will stand the test of time and is a film that you will watch again and again. On a scale of 1-5 I give The Untouchables a 5 out of 5.
Posted on: Tue, 11 Mar 2014 19:09:39 +0000
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