SCARFACE ('83) | Full Movie | Movies Anywhere

Though almost as long, Scarface doesn't have the depth or complexity of either Godfather films. It is, however, a hard-hitting update of the old-style gangster movie.

What could have been a somber, depressing story has been kept buoyantly afloat by De Palma's wry, sarcastic look at grown men who wear expensive suits and shoot each other.

Scarface clearly lacks the suspense, macabre style and the deranged wit of previous De Palma films such as Carrie and Dressed to Kill. It is too slow for an action movie and too bent on destruction to make it for serious moviegoers.

Working from Oliver Stone's script, De Palma shapes a chilling, unpleasant but perversely entertaining portrait of the cocaine business. To his credit, its 2 hours and 45 minutes fly by like so many bullets.

Scarface is vile, sordid, dispiriting and degrading for all involved. It's major flaws, however, are its overall dullness and disorganization.

For a time, it seems to be on the way toward greatness, but then -- perhaps reflecting the descent of its protagonist -- it tumbles into mediocrity.

There's too much expertise, too much sheer love of movie-making up there on the screen for Scarface to be deemed a failure. But the director's failure to follow through makes this a too-long movie that comes up short.