The Untouchables

The Untouchables follows federal agent Eliot Ness (Kevin Costner) as he and his ragtag gang of officers (Charles Martin Smith’s Oscar Wallace, Andy Garcia’s George Stone, and Sean Connery’s Jim Malone) battle bootleggers during the depression, with the bulk of the proceedings devoted to the group’s ongoing (and increasingly tenacious) efforts at bringing down Robert De Niro’s formidable Al Capone. Given that it kicks off with a tremendously promising opening credits sequence, one that’s heightened by Ennio Morricone’s larger-than-life score, The Untouchables‘ rather hands-off first act is, to put it mildly, somewhat disappointing, with the stirring performances and filmmaker Brian De Palma’s typically over-the-top visual choices going a long way towards compensating for the movie’s almost incongruously deliberate pace. The narrative demonstrably picks up as Ness begins assembling his team, however, and there’s little doubt that De Palma’s broad sensibilities grow more and more engrossing as time progresses, with the increased emphasis on downright jaw-dropping sequences – eg the justifiably legendary train-station interlude – ultimately overshadowing the decidedly episodic (and oddly theatrical) bent of David Mamet’s screenplay. The end result is a consistently watchable yet sporadically captivating piece of work that is, unfortunately, starting to show its age (ie the movie’s ’80s origins are often far more obvious than one might’ve preferred), although it’s clear that The Untouchables remains one of the more successful big-budget endeavors from De Palma.

*** out of ****