The Untouchables Reviews

I have seen many movies, and while The Untouchables is not the best movie of all of them, it is one I enjoyed enormously. There is so much to recommend it and I found it great to watch. The story is riveting and well constructed, and while he doesn't show off as such, a good thing in my book, Brian DePalma does let loose with some very inventive not to mention bloody set pieces. See the climax at the railway station for instance, while essentially a nod to the famous Odyssey steps sequence in the Battleship Potemkin, it was brilliantly done all the same. Speaking of DePalma, he does do a wonderful job directing.

That isn't the only reason why the Untouchables was such a hit with me. There are many more reasons. The dialogue is like crackling fire works, it is witty, intelligent and sophisticated, and some of it goes by surprisingly quickly. Ennio Morricone is one of the finest film composers ever, his score here is no exception, as it soars very like an eagle in full flight. And we have some truly sparkling production design, I love films with beautiful sets, scenery and costumes and The Untouchables scored highly in this area. Then we have very strong acting, Kevin Costner mayn't be to everybody's tastes but I think in his star-making turn he gave one of his better performances in this film. Andy Garcia joins the team with enthusiasm, and a plumped-up Robert DeNiro as Al Capone is wonderful as always. However, in my opinion, as the Irish cop who shows Costner the ropes, Sean Connery one of the most charismatic actors around gives the best and even perhaps most memorable performance here.

Overall, a wonderful film, with an awful lot to recommend it. 10/10 Bethany Cox

I have seen many movies, and while The Untouchables is not the best movie of all of them, it is one I enjoyed enormously. There is so much to recommend it and I found it great to watch. The story is riveting and well constructed, and while he doesn't show off as such, a good thing in my book, Brian DePalma does let loose with some very inventive not to mention bloody set pieces. See the climax at the railway station for instance, while essentially a nod to the famous Odyssey steps sequence in the Battleship Potemkin, it was brilliantly done all the same. Speaking of DePalma, he does do a wonderful job directing.

That isn't the only reason why the Untouchables was such a hit with me. There are many more reasons. The dialogue is like crackling fire works, it is witty, intelligent and sophisticated, and some of it goes by surprisingly quickly. Ennio Morricone is one of the finest film composers ever, his score here is no exception, as it soars very like an eagle in full flight. And we have some truly sparkling production design, I love films with beautiful sets, scenery and costumes and The Untouchables scored highly in this area. Then we have very strong acting, Kevin Costner mayn't be to everybody's tastes but I think in his star-making turn he gave one of his better performances in this film. Andy Garcia joins the team with enthusiasm, and a plumped-up Robert DeNiro as Al Capone is wonderful as always. However, in my opinion, as the Irish cop who shows Costner the ropes, Sean Connery one of the most charismatic actors around gives the best and even perhaps most memorable performance here.

Overall, a wonderful film, with an awful lot to recommend it. 10/10 Bethany Cox

A feelinf of fordian epic in the western sequence, and of hawksian team, besides the bizarre 'eisenstein october' hommage. Connery knows too much over Costner.

I already saw this movie but since it was ages ago, I was quite eager to check it out again. Even though Brian De Palma is nowadays pretty much forgotten, I always had a weak spot for his work and, after ‘Scarface’, it must be the biggest movie he has made in the 80’s so I had some rather high expectations. Well, even though it was at the time a big box-office success for Brian de Palma and even though it did turn Kevin Costner into a movie star, to be honest, I wasn’t really impressed actually. I mean, the whole thing looked great, the soundtrack by Ennio Morricone was fine and there was a very strong cast involved (Kevin Costner, Sean Connery, Andy Garcia, Robert De Niro). Unfortunately, even though it was written by David Mamet, the story felt rather flat. On top of that, while it did start to get pretty violent towards the end, I thought the tone was actually really light through most of the duration and a grittier approach would have worked much better. Finally, even though Kevin Costner was extremely charismatic back then, except for his classic movie star good looks, there was eventually nothing memorable about the way he played Eliot Ness. Eventually, you almost wish the movie focused instead on Al Capone as he seemed to be a much more interesting character thanks to Robert de Niro who was still at the top of his game back in those days. Anyway, to conclude, even though I thought it was slightly disappointing, it was still a decent watch though and it is definitely worth a look, especially if you like the genre.

Coming from Brian De Palma, the guy who directed Scarface starring AL Pacino, this movie blow your mind in the other way, as it lacked dialog, lacked suspense, lacked performances, lacked even the basic elements to make a movie memorable.

With A-listers all around like Robert De Niro at his peak and Sean Connery the old and better, this movie should be one of the best gangsta flicks there is, but talent should meet talent at the other end, otherwise, we would have a very cold unpolished movie with no suspense and not even one decent performance.

It's a movie about the legend AL Capone (played by Robert De Niro), a very intimidating mafia boss who control the illegal trading of alcohol during it's prohibition in Chicago in the early 30's, determine to stop him is the newly appointed treasury officer Eliot Ness (played by Kevin Costner), but in a corrupted city, with corrupted policemen, Ness find it to be very hard to assemble the right crew to help him, so he find Jim Malone (played by Sean Connery) who's an old and wise foot patrol policeman.

After assembling the right crew, which consists of Jim Malone, an accountant named Oscar Wallace and a new cop named George Stone (played by Andy Garcia), the four decide to stop an alcohol trafficking at the Canadian-American border, with the help of the Canadian police, a scene which should be the most important one in the entire movie, had so many flaws, it left me speechless.

The scene was very weak and unbalanced, and it was really obvious to see that, the four cops were hiding in a cottage on the american side and the Canadian cops were hiding behind the mountains on the Canadian side, and they were both monitoring the gang members trading boxes of alcohol on the bridge connecting Canada with the U.S, so you see the Canadian police on their horses raiding the bridge, at the same time the four cops starts raiding the bridge too, but it took the Canadian cops few minutes to reach the bridge and start shooting, and it took forever for the four cops to reach the bridge, so after the shoot out started, the gang members starts fleeing to the american side only to see the four cops in their way, the camera cuts to the american side and shows you the shoot out between the four cops and the gang members, and it never cut back to the Canadian cops, so you don't know what happened to them, i mean they came from the other side of the bridge riding horses, so what happened to them? did they shoot some gang members?, did they got shot? did they disappear? because that's the only explanation, the shoot out on the american side took along time, but the Canadian cops never reached the other side of the bridge, it's like they jumped off to the water and died.

Robert De Niro's performance as Al Capone was incredible, he was very intimidating while on screen, he had the laugh, and the accent and he was the best thing about this movie, the problem is, he had no screen time at all, he had very few lines and his character isn't even in a supporting role, it was a cameo, which is very shocking when you realize that the best thing about this movie came from a cameo, instead, we have Kevin Costner playing as a family man, delivering one of the worst performances, I've seen in a long time, how he was casted in supposedly a strong gangsta flick was beyond comprehension, he wasn't even able to deliver the most important punchlines in the movie, he was very weak and pathetic, furthermore, Sean Connery performance was very awkward, his Irish-American accent was laughable, it comes very strong at some scenes and it disappear on the other scenes, so how he won an academy award with that accent is terrifying.

Now, i might have trashed this movie more than others, and the reason for it, is that this is a gangsta flick, a movie about mafia should never come off this weak and/or mediocre, it's a movie about AL Capone, in which AL Capone was not in it, and the leading man was horribly casted , and the movie lacked dialog, the screenplay was very weak, there were too many scenes when you expect something to be said, but it didn't, it's like they didn't speak to each-other unless it was absolutely necessary, and the confrontations were one sided for the most cases, the whole atmosphere was cold, you'd expect some sound-effects to go with these car chases, but it was awfully silent, the only thing to make up was the beautiful cinematography, the beautiful music and the very few scenes with Robert De Niro.

Overall, a very weak and unmemorable movie who lacked many elements, in which it came off laughable when it shouldn't, and it wasn't funny when it should, because Kevin Costner couldn't deliver the fucking punchline in a proper or at least in an exciting way, this guy should never be in a serious movie.

I saw a movie earlier this year called Valkyrie. It was about a group of men who were determined to assassinate Adolf Hitler, and were willing to go to great heights to do so. For the most part, though, Valkyrie was dull and uninspired. And while The Untouchables reminds me distinctly of Valkyrie, The Untouchables is far from from dull or uninspired.

Similarly to Valkryrie, The Untouchables is about a group of men- A lawman named Elliot, a cop named Jim, an accountant named Oscar, and a cop-in-training named George- who all share an interest in bringing a villainous man to justice. In this case, it's Al Capone. With alcohol made illegal, Al Capone is making a fortune illegally selling booze. Elliot and co intend to prove Capone is guilty, but Capone has his resources.

Like Valkyrie, The Untouchables is superbly acted. You really believe in the characters. Their loss is yours. They're unforgettable; all thanks to the actors. Kevin Costner is a believable family man. Sean Connery gets more one liners than the rest of the cast combined. Charles Martin Smith is the nerd-becomes-cool characters and acts with personality to spare. But most of the kudos has to go to Robert De Niro, who plays Al Capone. He's easily the most iconic of the characters in the film, and he's appropriately nasty.

Unlike Valkyrie, we're given some top-notch action. We don't just get one or two decent action scenes; we get a whole mess of them, and none of them are cheap or forgettable. They're all thrilling and heart-pounding. All of them, unique show-stoppers. Just a sampling; a gun fight with smugglers on a bridge, the classic "train station" scene, and a frantic roof-top chase.

The score has become quite iconic, so I'll spend a little time discussing it. Composed by Ennio Morocone, the score is a clever mix of incidental music, jazz, and retro 30's music. And while the score is memorable, and undeniably incredible, the percussion often overpowers, and some of the music in the "sweet" scenes is a bit too run of the mill for my taste. And while this does make the score a little less excellent, it is, unarguably fantastic.

The cinematography is wonderful. There's one scene in particular where the camera plays the point of view of an assassin, sneaking around someone's house at night time. It's scenes like this where the cinematography really shines.

The Untouchables is a fun and sometimes frantic film, with a memorable score, fantastic acting, and some unforgettable action sequences. And while I wouldn't say it's quite untouchable, it's unexpectedly smart and entertains to the last minute.

Undeniably, the movie starts well, can see at least that will "hook" to create a story that seeks good entertainment. But this, laudable, nothing but pure illusion. Soon the interest is being diluted and continuing debacle unstoppable and more pronounced, progressive, as can be seen in it a no capacity to surprise. Here the plot twists and daring simply do not exist. Everything is predictable. The device begins to take shape and not a single scene that does not emphasize what is already explicit or abandon the easy condescension to mainstream audiences. The succession of absurdities or poorly resolved and is unstoppable, uninterrupted.

I did not expect such a low level of credibility, and even overall quality of "The Untouchables ..." in view of the excellent reviews it has received from its distant opening. Even the fact that it was one of the biggest losers in the corresponding year's Academy Awards, was also supposed to "offering more": a more personal and original invoice, less beholden to the Hollywood filter (more attentive to the viewer popping and commercial performance to the actual content of the film) ... After I fell so much in my view as naive in this and other "untouchables" details, marked by the industry. It is just one more film from the projected prizes, each time, less prestigious Academy. Marketing dollars and, at the end of the tour, candid entertainment. Good technical bill, but can not say the same of their narrative aspect.

If you think you are witnessing a new installment of "Superman" or "Raiders of the Lost Ark" can support the continuous licensing tragicomic scene looking stroller with child "possessed", but presumably it is parody is not a historical reenactment. Here, more than at any other time, the seriousness should be assumed. Even a buffoonish De Niro seems to laugh to the role he plays. Connery is saved and it disappears in time.

His reading is rapid, although again, too explicit, so the story does not feel, only "be seen" and increasingly, seeps telefilm, history lightly, without any historical significance and few means of argument. Does the music? better without the soundtrack. Recreation is acceptable, good atmosphere, another (perhaps the only credible if you delete the Far West of the bridge ...) but is this enough to make your vision? True, not enough to bore you but at times it becomes outrageous, I do not know which is worse.

It is unfortunate to note how far is the De Palma original and avant-garde of "The Phantom of the Paradise" or the haunting "Obsession"; "Carrie" or "Dressed to Kill."

What a masterpiece! A movie that should be watched by everyone who loves the movies. I was always intrigued by this movie as a kid. I would always see the famous subway scene on AMC,and was always amazed by it and I am still amazed to this day. Now I could be just saying this because crime movies are my favorite types of movies besides drama, but I am telling you, it will not dissapoint. The performances are superb, and the storyline is one of the best. Sean Connery has one of his best performances of his career. Kevin Costner, whom I am not to familiar with, gives a great performance, and of course Robert De Niro, never dissapoints. All and all, this movie is a masterpiece, a great achievement in film making, and should be seen by everyone. Did I mention its a true story?

This movie did nothing for me. I was actually bored the whole way through it (I left half way to go do something else, I was that bored) and the music grated on my nerves. Now I feel like 2 hours have passed me by and I wasn't able to do anything productive with them.