Blu-ray Movie Reviews

Tony Montana (Al Pacino), a young Cuban immigrant, lands in Miami in search of the American dream. There he meets Frank Lopez (Robert Loggia), who mentors the young man on how to succeed in a life of crime, and Montana eventually becomes one of Miami's most feared drug kingpins. Staying at the top isn't easy, especially if you're mentally unstable, and when Montana neglects the two most important pieces of advice from Lopez, his empire begins to unravel and all that's left is his "little friend."

Written by Oliver Stone and directed by Brian De Palma, Scarface is a gritty tale filled with violence, foul language, and a fantastic performance by Pacino. That being said, this isn't one of my favorite gangster films. While I enjoy the mesmerizing cinematography, I find the screenplay to be a tad shallow, and at 170 minutes, it's much too long.

The VC-1 encode is serviceable, but it's plagued with ample edge enhancement, occasional ringing, and overzealous use of digital noise reduction. Crushed blacks ruin most of the shadow detail, but things look much better in bright daytime scenes that are filled with vivid colors that pop off the screen.

The DTS-HD MA 7.1 track is surprisingly strong—especially the LFE—and the surround speakers feature plenty of activity and ambience. While dialog is always intelligible, it can sound occasionally thin, but given the film's age, I'm not too surprised by this.

Supplements on the two-disc package include two U-Control featurettes, a three-part HD documentary on the Scarface phenomenon, a smattering of vintage featurettes, deleted scenes, and a DVD of the 1932 film Scarface.

While it certainly isn't as good as The Godfather or Goodfellas, Pacino's performance is worth giving it a look. Sure it's violent, but it's much tamer than many of today's films. Recommended for fans.

Ratings

Picture: 3/5
3D-Ness: N/A
Sound: 4/5
Extras: 4/5
Interactivity: 4/5

Disc Specs

Studio: Universal (1983)
Aspect Ratio: 2.35:1
Audio Format: DTS-HD Master Audio 7.1
Length: 170 Min
MPAA Rating: R
Director: Brian De Palma
Starring: Al Pacino, Robert Loggia