Point Break Revisitation 2 "Adios Amigo!!"

Right, so yep its revisitation time once more on the blog and I figured even though this post has already been re-done I figured though I might just add a few more things to it that I may have missed previously.  And the post in question is Kathren Bigelow's action classic, Point Break from 1991, which had its own remake two years ago (why do they bother???).

Anyway so let's take another look at this one and see how it is after 26 years.....

So the usual warning is coming up....

SPOILERS ARE AHEAD!!!

STORY 

OK so the film kicks off with rookie FBI agent Johnny Utah (Keanu Reeves) who is assigned along with his veteran partner, Angelo Pappas (Gary Busey) to investigate a series of bank robberies.  The robbers themselves are dressed up wearing masks of four former presidents, Ronald Regan, Richard Nixon, Lindon B. Johnson and Jimmy Carter and they nickname themselves the "ex-presidents".

Pappas has a theory that the ex-presidents are in fact surfers (due to video footage of one of them dropping their trousers to moon revealing a "tan line" across their ass, which would be associated with surfers!) and Utah decides to go with his theory and infiltrates a small surfing community.  Utah however has no idea of surfing or how to and nearly drowns out at sea on his first day but he is rescued by a female surfer, Tyler (Lori Petty) whom he approaches again and persuades her to teach him after he runs her arrest sheet and read that her parents died in a car crash and uses that to his advantage. 

Johnny eventually manages to get the hang of surfing through Tyler's help and he soon meets the leader of a local surfing gang, Bodhi (Patrick Swayze) and when he reveals he was a former quarterback in football, Bodhi's crew accept Johnny, who begins to get drawn into their world.  Utah also follows the lead of a clue which might lead them to the robbers as he and Pappas set up a raid on another gang of surfers, who turn out not to be the ex-presidents and it turns out instead they have accidentally ruined a DEA undercover operation in the process, which incurs the wrath of Utah and Pappa's superior, FBI Agent Harp (John C. McGinley).

The next day however Johnny, who by now has become romantically involved with Tyler receives an early wake-up visit from Bodhi and they go out for surf, however as Utah walks along the beach he sees Bodhi and his crew out surfing, one of whom moons (i.e. drops his shorts!) in the same style as the bank robber did in one of the video tapes taken from a bank robbery.  It then dawns on Utah that Bodhi's gang are the ex-presidents and he tells Pappas of his suspicions as he tailed Bodhi to find that he was scoping a bank.

The next day Utah and Pappas steak out outside the bank and right enough they see the ex-presidents leave the bank, with Utah and Pappas giving chase, Utah eventually chases the robber wearing the Reagan mask on foot through a neighbourhood.  As Utah chases after the robber he accidentally slips down an acqueduct and injures his knee in the process, as the robber gains distance, Utah takes out his gun and aims at the robber but can't bring himself to pull the trigger and fires his gun into the air instead, yelling in frustration.

Later that night Bodhi and his gang reveal that they are indeed the ex-presidents, but Bodhi's motivation was to rebel against the system and not to gain profit.  With Bodhi's gang scared and wanting out, Bodhi refuses to back down and he insists that he knows what to do with Utah.  Meanwhile Tyler discovers that Johnny is in fact an FBI agent as she finds his badge and gun in his apartment, furious with Utah for lying, Tyler runs out.

The next morning Bodhi turns up at Utah's front door and insists he goes skydiving with his gang, which Utah reluctantly obliges, but in doing so get's a real kick out of it.  After they land Bodhi takes Utah into a van and plays a tape showing Tyler tied up to a chair with one of Bodhi's gang, Rosie (Lee Tergesen) holding a knife to her throat.  Bodhi reveals that he knows that Utah is an FBI agent, and tells him that Tyler will be fine as long as he get's a certain place in time first, and he forces Utah to go along on their last robbery with them, which brings the film to its hectic climax....

THOUGHTS 

Well I still think Point Break for me is a very enjoyable action thriller and while it is at times somewhat cheesy in its depiction of the surfer community and of the robbers it nonetheless has plenty of high octaine action that keeps an audience gripped.  The relationship between Utah and Bodhi also helps drive the film's story pretty well as Utah is sucked into the world of surfing and he is drawn to Bodhi's charisma, and in the end even as Utah persues Bodhi so relentlessly, he at the end of the film still has alot of respect for him.  And the film certainly says alot for adrenaline junkies and the rush and the need for it, and even shows how fanatical Bodhi's crew are as they even willing to die to find that ultimate rush (or killer rush being more like it!).  

And at the time of the production, neither Reeves, Swayze or Petty hadn't any real surfing experience and they ended being taught by a surfing instructor over a two month period with Swayze and Reeves both being drawn towards surfing, and Reeves who continued to keep it up as a hobby afterwards.  It was also later revealed that Swayze did his own aerial stunts during the skydiving scenes, as well as during the fight scenes and of course surfing, and Swayze himself felt that he had a strong kinship with Bodhi's character as the wild guy.

PERFORMANCES AND NOTABLE SCENES (Warning: this section contains strong language and spoilers!!) 

Moving onto the film's performances things are mainly pretty good here.

And to start off with Keanu Reeves, who while he is not the best actor in the world, does give a good account of himself here as the ambitious young FBI rookie, Johnny Utah, who get's drawn into the world of surfing and makes a connection with Bodhi.

Reeves has some good scenes especially in the action scenes where he raids another surfing gang's hideout (the gang features Red Hot Chili Peppers singer, Anthony Keidis) and also the scene where he chases Bodhi through a neighbourhood.

Reeves also get's some good dialogue as he delivers plenty of glib one liners, and even takes the piss out of his character Ted, from Bill and Ted's Excellent Adventure, when he scopes out surfers on a beach and tries to get a hair sample from one of them and pulls off a piece of hair by saying to the guy "Watch out, you've got a big sucker going right for your ear!" and tears off a piece of the guy's hair and says "Saved your life, bro, close one!".

Also after he get's chewed out by his superior, FBI Agent Harp who says "Now has any one of you got anything even remotely interesting to tell me???!" and Reeves sarcastically replies "I got my first tube this morning... sir!" (a tube being surfers term that refers to a tunnel like shaped wave, which surfers can ride in the middle of).

Then there is the scene where Utah discovers that Bodhi has had Tyler kidnapped and he is forced to go along with Bodhi and his crew as they carry out their last robbery and he angrily says to Bodhi who wants Utah to go into the bank with them "Bodhi this is your fucking wake up call, man!  I'm am an  F....B....I agent!!!".

Another good scene is when Utah turns up at near the end at the airfield to negotiate with Bodhi to try and find out where Tyler is being held.  And as Bodhi is not prepared to really listen to him, Utah says regarding the botched robbery where Bodhi (SPOILER) is forced to kill an off-duty cop, "The guy you killed was an off-duty cop!  They'll nail your wherever you land!  There's a new thing called radar! Maybe you've heard of it!".  And Utah continues saying to Bodhi "I know you, man, when shit goes down, you won't back down!  They'll have to burn your ass to the ground!" and Bodhi says "Yeah? And shit happens!" and Utah says "Look, you've got a deathwish a want to ride to glory?! Fine, but don't take Tyler with you!  I'm begging you! Tell me where she is and I'll walk away!".  And Bodhi looks almost convinced and says "You'll walk away?" and Utah says "I walk away!" and Bodhi says "That is beautiful, Johnny!" but they are interrupted by Roach opening fire on Pappas from afar and a quick gunfight ensues.

And lastly there is the scene where Utah finally catches up with Bodhi in Australia at Bells beach, where he is waiting to ride out the 50 year storm.  And Utah tells Bodhi "You've gotta go down!  People trusted you and they died" and Bodhi says "Yeah, it went bad, real bad!  Life sure has a sick sense of humour, doesn't it?".  And Utah says to him "Look, Bodhi, you're gonna have to come back with me" but Bodhi just laughs and says "Sorry, my friend!" and Utah starts fighting Bodhi and as the two of them struggle, Utah manages to latch a handcuff on Bodhi's wrist.  And Utah smiles and says "I told them!  You'd go quietly!" and Bodhi enraged shouts "NO!!!  There's no way I can handle a cage, man!" and Utah says "I don't care!  You gotta go down!  Its gotta be that way!".

But in the end (SPOILER!!!) Utah decides to let Bodhi go and surf the lethal waves, knowing he most likely will not survive them and Bodhi pleads with Utah "Come on, compadre.  This is what my whole life has been about, Johnny.  Come on!" and Utah looks at the ferociously huge waves and Bodhi angrily shouts "COME ON!!" and Utah finally relents and uncuffs Bodhi and tells him "Vaya con dios" (Spanish for "Go with God") and let's him go.  And just as the Aussie police arrive and one cop (with a ridiculously bad Australian accent no less!) shouts at Utah "What the fuck, Utah! You let him go!!" and Utah says "No, I didn't" and he looks out at Bodhi surfing the huge waves and he is soon consumed by them.  And the cop says "We'll get him when he comes back in!" and Utah walks away saying "He's not coming back" and he looks at his FBI badge, now disillusioned with his job,  he throws it into the ocean.   

Patrick Swazye is excellent as Bodhi, the charismatic gang leader who is more into the spiritual side of surfing and life in general!  Swayze plays Bhodi pretty much as an almost spaced out guru, who get's his thrills out of adrenaline rushes such as robbing a bank, skydiving or surfing, but also develops special connection with Utah as the film progresses.

Swayze as Bodhi has some good scenes such as when he is about to a bank at the start of the film, wearing his Ronald Reagen mask he says "The little hand says its time to rock and roll!".  Also in the first bank robbery scene he has some good lines such as "Hello helllo hello ladies and gentlemen we are the ex-presidents!  We need just a few minutes of your time, and we've been screwing you for years for a few more minutes shouldn't matter, should it???!".  And as they are about to leave the bank he turns to the customers and says "Thank you very much ladies and gentlemen and please don't forget to vote!!".

But as Bohdi he also reveals his willingness to sacrifice his life to do what he loves the most in doing his surfing and he wishes to surf at Bells Beach in Australia, where an alleged 50 year storm is set to come around, which prompts a good from Bodhi when he says "If you want the ultimate, you've gotta pay the ultimate price.  Its not tragic to die doing the thing you love."

Then there is the scene where Bodhi plays Utah the tape of Tyler tied up screaming "Fuck you!" at the camera while she is being held captive by Rosie (Lee Tergesen) and Bodhi turns off the tape and says "She is a wild one, isn't she, special agent Utah?".  And all of a sudden Utah grabs hold of Bodhi and slams him against the inside of the truck and shouts "You're a fuckin dead man!!" but Bodhi pleads with Utah to hear him out, which he does.  And Bodhi warns Utah "But if I don't make it to Rosie by 3pm, he will get her like a pig and try not to get any on shoes.  So I guess that makes us partners, as we both need to get me where I need to go" and Utah then says "We're wasting time!" and Bodhi just smiles and says "Oohh, that's what I love you about you, Johnny!  You are just as sharp as a razor!".  

Then we have the following scene where Bodhi and his gang get dressed up as the ex-presidents as they drive to rob their last bank.  And Bodhi says to Utah re Tyler's kidnapping "All I'm asking for is 90 seconds of your life, Johnny. That's a small price to pay for someone who loves you.  She does you know.  Its not her style to fall so hard, I don't think she did with me".  Bodhi then throws the president masks to his crew and he says to Utah "Well, Johnny....looks like you don't get to be president!" and he puts on his Ronald Regan mask.   

Another good scene worth mentioning comes when Bodhi forces Utah to join him on the plane as Bodhi prepares to do his skydive to reunited with Rosie.  And just as Bodhi is about to do his jump he says to Utah "I know its hard for you, Johnny. I know you want me so bad it's like acid in your mouth. But, not this time!" and Bodhi chucks his gun aside and says to Utah "Adios amigo!" and he jumps out the plane, leaving Utah furious, who simply decides to go after Bodhi and he grabs the gun and shouts "FUCK IT!!" and dives out the plane. 

Then in the next scene, Utah dives through the sky and catches up with Bodhi and holds him at gunpoint and tries to force him to pull the chord on the parachute but Bodhi defiantly says "Nah, you pull it!".  And after they finally land, they writhe around painfully as Bodhi attempts to get up he says to Utah "Goddamn!  You are one radical son of a bitch!".  And as Bodhi moves away from Utah, who has injured his knee again he says to him "That knee again, huh?  Too bad.  Looks like this time you won't be getting your man.  This game we both lose!".  And as Bodhi reunites with Rosie, who let's Tyler go, just before Bodhi drives off he shouts to Johnny "Yo, Johnny!  I'll see you in the next life!".

Gary Busey is also really good as Utah's veteran FBI partner, Pappas, who comes up with the surfer theory for the ex-presidents.  Busey who is no stranger to being manic (and let's face it in real life he does have more than one screw loose!) plays Pappas with a hyperactive quality (or at least a bloated agent who has had one coffee too many and a few doughnuts!) and he quickly develops a good rapport with Utah.

Busey also get's plenty of good moments, such as when he argues with Utah who goads him by saying he is an "over the hill burnout" and he Pappas replies "Listen you snot nosed little shit!  I was taking hits in Khe Sang, while you were still crapping in your hands and rubbing it in your face!".  And Utah shouts back "Well since you're not quite in the box yet, why don't you tell me this great theory of yours and we'll go get the guys!!".  And Pappas sighs and says "OK, hotshot!  You wanna nail the robbers and be a big hero?" and Utah says "Definitely!" and Pappas says "Definitely!  Then here it is....the ex-presidents are surfers!" and Utah looks at him incredulously and says "Surfers???" and Pappas says "Surfers!". 

And also in the scene where Utah tells Pappas about his theory of trying to get a hair sample from surfers to try and locate the beach where the ex-presidents might surf, and Utah asks him "are you buying this?" and Pappas says "No.  But let's do it anyway!  It will bug the shit out of Harp!".  And also in the scene when he confronts Utah over not shooting Bodhi and he says "You are either scared or your getting too goddamn close to this guru buddy of yours!  I don't believe your scared.  Now go home and get some rest you look like hammered shit!" (a great line!). 

And also later when he says to Harp "Let me tell you something, Harp.  I've been in this bureau while you were still popping zits on your funny face and jacking off to the lingerie section of the Sears catalogue!".  And in the scene Pappas continues "And in all these years I've learned something you still haven't got!" and Harp scornfully says "Yeah?  Why don't you astonish me, shitface?!" and Pappas then punches Harp, knocking him to the floor saying "Respect for my elders!  Plain and simple!".   

Lori Petty also makes a good impression as Utah's love interest, Tyler Endicott, and she is quite defensive and obnoxious at first as she grudgingly saves Utah from drowning and she insults him and his crap surfboard and says "Look at this pigboard piece of shit!  You've got no business out here whatsoever!" and Johnny calls after her saying "Hey my name's Johnny Utah!" and she says "Who cares???!" as she heads back out to surf.

However as the film progress she soon becomes attracted to Utah and she has some good scenes that include the one where they are both at Bodhi's party and she says to Utah "I hope you aren't buying into all this bonzai bullshit like the others".  And  Utah asks her "What are you talking about?" and Tyler says to him "You've got the kamikaze look, Johnny, I've seen it.  And Bodhi can smell it a mile away.  He'll take you to the edge and past it."

And lastly there is the scene (SPOILER!!) where she finds out he is an FBI agent and he tells her he lied about his parents and she says "FUCK YOU!! Don't you have a soul?!" and she drops the gun in disgust and says quietly "Goddamn you to hell" and runs out. 

John C. McGinley is also great in his role as the arrogant FBI agent, Harp, who takes an instant dislike to Utah and he says to him at the start of the film "I see you're a real blue flame special, son.  Young dumb and full of cum, I know!  But what I don't know is how you got assigned out here.  I mean hell, I guess we must just have ourselves an asshole shortage, huh?" and he winks at Utah and walks away with Utah relying quietly "Not so far".

Also McGinley's best line in the film comes when he berates Utah and Pappas for their lack of progress in the case with Utah in undercover surfer gear and a big surfboard in Harp's office. And Harp says "Special agent Utah. This is not some job flipping burgers at the local drive in.  Yes the surfboard bothers me, yes you're whole goddamn approach to this case bothers me, and yes YOU BOTHER ME!!  And over the last two weeks you have produced exactly SQUAT! SQUAT!!".  Harp then continues shouting "And in the meantime, the ex-presidents have robbed three more banks!! Now for Christ sakes, has either one of you got anything even remotely interesting to tell me!!" and Utah says "I got my first tube this morning, sir!" (a surfing term of course!).  

Tom Sizemore also gives a brief but good account of himself as an agent working for the DEA who's cover is blown when Utah and Pappas raid the wrong surfers.  And Sizemore who is always good with explosive dialogue delives another bit of stern dialogue to Utah when he says to them regarding his hair "You think I like this hair, man?!  You think I like these clothes?!  My wife wants me to move out to Ramada!".  And he contines angrily "I've been working on these fuckers for THREE MONTHS!!  THREE MONTHS!!  Now I've got them playing the wheel of fortune, so I can find out who their suppliers are and you fucking cowboys show up!".

Oh and last, last of all its worth mentioning the performance of the Red Hot Chili Pepper's lead singer, Anthony Keidis who appears in the film as one of the Nazi surfer gang members, Tone.  And Keidis's two most notable scenes in the film are when the Nazi surfers confront Utah on the beach after he accidentally knocks into one of them while surfing.  And as the gang surround Utah and he says to them "I know.  This is where you tell me that locals rule and the yuppie insects like me shouldn't be breaking your waves, right?" and Tone says to him "That would be a waste of time!".

And later on there is of course the scene where Utah and Pappas raid the Nazi gang's hideout and as Tone tries to run through the house one of the agent's open the door behind him, causing Tone to shoot himself in the foot!    

DIRECTOR AND MUSIC 

Getting onto the director Kathryn Bigelow (who also directed Strange Days, Near Dark and The Hurt Locker) who does an excellent job here, proving to be one of few female directors known for directing action films.

Bigelow also skillfully paces out the action and the bank robberies, car chases, sky diving and surfing scenes are all done really well and you do get a sense of the adrenaline rush the characters are getting.  Bigelow also skillfully directs the big chase scene with Utah chasing Bodhi on foot through a neighbourhood as a hand held camera follows them, which for me is one of the best chase scenes seen in recent years on screen.

As for the music it features a pretty good score by Mark Isham which is a mixture of synthesizers and orchestral compositions and it is pretty well suited to the tone of the film.  It also features a notable and memorable track during the scene where Utah goes sky diving with Bodhi and his crew, which is quite an atmospheric track that really captures the scene itself pretty well.

In addition to Isham's score the film also features tracks from various different artists such as Jimi Hendrix who's track "If 6 was 9" is used, Public image ltd "Criminal", Ice-T's "Original gangster", Wire Train's "I will not fall" and Sheryl Crow's "Hundreds of tears".  So overall the film has a pretty good soundtrack.    

FLAWS (Warning may feature spoilers!) 

So getting onto the flaws section of the review, does Point Break have some worth mentioning???  Well yeah it does.

And to kick off while it is very entertaining it is also quite cheesy at times and one scene that sticks in my mind that is really silly is when Bodhi and his gang playball American football with Utah, as it just seems a bit macho and naff.  And what is even more daft about that scene is that Utah isn't even formerly introduced to Bodhi and his crew until Bodhi twigs who he is himself, realising that Utah was once a quarterback football player! 

It also has to be said that Bodhi as a character is also up his own arse and while he has the charisma to engage his gang and Utah, he is also somewhat delusional and lives in his own dreamworld.  And Swayze's corniest line in the film comes when Bodhi says to his gang "What's the matter with you guys? This was never about the money, this was about us against the system. That system that kills the human spirit. We stand for something. We are here to show those guys that are inching their way on the freeways in their metal coffins that the human sprit is still alive!".  Uggghhh shut up!    

It also seems strange that such an inexperienced FBI agent as Utah would be put on a high profile case in the first place, as he is just signed up with his older partner in Pappas and off they go!  But then again perhaps that's how it works down there! ;-).  I also think its a bit silly how Utah and Pappas suss out that the ex-presidents are surfers purely from videotape footage of one of the robber's mooning their arse!  So the case was in a way eventually unravelled thanks to an arse! Literally! Well that and a ponytail hair from one of the other robbers, so an ass hair and a ponytail was the ex-president's undoing!  So if it wasn't for that robber mooning his ass and for the surfers having ponytails they would have gotten away with it scot free!!   

And another issue I have is the whole sub-plot of Utah and Pappas doing a raid on the wrong surfing gang only to find an undercover FBI agent was already on the gang's case.  Now surely to God if this man was an undercover FBI agent they would have checked with the other departments of the FBI that someone was already working on the case of this gang in the first place!!  But instead Utah and Pappas are allowed to go ahead with the raid and screw things up but realistically this is something that should have been checked by their superior, Harp, before it even went ahead! 

I also found the whole concept of Utah still bonding with Bodhi and his crew and going for a sky dive AFTER finding out they are in fact the ex-presidents was a bit daft to say the least!  I mean its almost like after they share the amazing experience of skydiving and bonding together as they do it, is enough for Utah to let things slide!

But of course in the end Bodhi brings it all crashing down to earth when he shows Utah the tape of Lori tied up and being held at knifepoint.  Now that I can almost buy that bit but the whole bonding experience before it just makes it all that more stupid!  It would have made more sense for Bodhi just to try and summon Utah to drive along with him to the van to show him the video rather than go through a whole elaborate skydirve in the first place!  But perhaps Bodhi did the sky dive to gain Utah's trust before landing him in it.       

Then we have the ridiculous moment where Utah jumps out of the plane after Bodhi, who already dived out wearing his parachute, only for Utah to catch up with him and hold a gun to his head and threaten him to pull the rip chord but Bodhi refuses to and insists that Utah do it and Utah pulls it out just at the last second before they impact and land on the ground!  Now surely to God there is no way in hell they would have survived the impact with Utah having opened the parachute maybe just merely maybe 50 feet from the ground!  And in this case in reality they would have been what Bodhi said just before they landed "meat waffles!" instead! 

And last of all I find it bizarre how the FBI would allow Utah to stay on the case to find Bodhi when he had in fact been framed earlier by Bodhi and his gang for robbery and arrested by Harp.  I guess Utah has amazing powers of persuasion that will allow him to be able to talk himself out of anything!

Anyway so that's it for the flaws. 

SUM UP

So to finally sum up, Break Point is still a very entertaining action film that is packed with some exciting action sequences and some good performances from the lead cast, particularly Swayze and Busey and even if Reeves struggles with the film's more dramatic moments, he too does a good job given his limitations as an actor.


The film however of course is pretty ridiculous and cheesy aswell as over the top at times and its whole plot is far from solid and is simply more fantasy than anything else and is hardly realistic.  But if you can forgive all this then there is still much to enjoy with Point Break and after 26 years its still worth checking out.

OK, so that's it for this revisited post and I will be back again soon with another review that will most probably be a review of the most recent Doom game, aptly enough called Doom, which I've been playing on the PS4.  So it might take me a few more days to get through but once I have I will put up my review on here.

So till then its bye for now!

Adios amigos!

Resident Evil Zero review

Right, its been a wee while since my last post as I've been pretty busy with my college photography stuff but that comes to an end right now as this post is a brand new un with new content (no revisitations although there will be still a few of them coming up soon!).

So this post will cover a game for a change and the game in question is Resident Evil Zero, which I've just finished playing for the first time in years as I originally played it on the Nintendo Gamecube all those years ago back in 2003 when it was first released.  But after nearly 15 years how does it stack up???  Well let's take a closer look....

Oh and as there will be a mention to some of the story here, the following warning is coming as usual...

SPOILERS WILL BE AHEAD!!

STORY

Right, so a bit about the story (I will try and keep this to a fair minimum!) as the game is a prequel to the events of the first Resident Evil game and takes place just a day before the events of the original on 23 July 1998.  And it starts with STARS team member, Rebecca Chambers investigating the scene of a train crash, which she boards and finds it is swarming with zombies.  Rebecca while onboard encounters a former marine, Billy Coen, who was being escorted by police after being sentenced to death for killing 23 people.  Despite his alleged crimes, Billy decided to pool resources with Rebecca in order so they can escape the but they soon encounter a mysterious unknown man who sets the train in motion, forcing the duo to find a way to stop the train, which they eventually do as it crashes into the tunnels of an abandoned building.

Rebecca and Billy then explore the building and find it to be a disused training facility for future executives of the Umbrella company (the company behind all the viruses that create the zombies and other monsters in the game basicall).  And naturally its not long before they discover more zombies in the facility aswell as some new monsters and from here Rebecca and Billy must try and get to the bottom of these events and find a way to escape the facility....

THOUGHTS

As a prequel to the original Resident Evil (or indeed the Nintendo remake of Resident Evil) Resident Evil Zero works very well and as a game its a pretty tense and uncomfortable experience but at the same time its a game that's alot of fun to play as it marries the classic formulae of the series with horror and action.

It also makes good use of its settings and the start of the game on the train provides some good moments of suspense particularly when the train is set in motion and Rebecca and Billy must try and find a way to stop it.  And as the game goes on it seems to explore the familiar settings of the series with both players trying to find a way to get through their nightmare to escape.  

GAMEPLAY 

As for the gameplay things take a change here as a new co-op player mode has been incorporated into the single player campaign where Rebecca and Billy must work together and you can change between the two characters at any given time.  Both playable characters however have different skills that can be used in the game such as Rebecca has a mixing set, which she can use to mix herbs for healing or to mix chemicals for various purposes.  Billy on the other hand has stronger defensive skills given that he is physically stronger and taller than Rebecca, this allows him to push heavy objects and take more damage but he also has a lighter that can be used at different points in the game.

Another aspect of the gameplay is that R and B (for short!) can pick up items or leave them, rather than try and hunt around and find a save room to dump their items in a storage chest, the game refreshingly allow for them to just drop an item if they haven't enough space.  However Rebecca and Billy can also even exchange items, which can be done in-menu and this also allows to free up space for either player if needed.

As for the game's weapons they are pretty much the same as what we've seen before as both players start with a handgun but they soon can pick up other weapons such as shotguns, magnums and of course a grenade launcher.  The only issue with the bigger weapons such as the shotgun or grenade launcher is that it takes up two spaces in either players inventories, which means they have to drop another item to accommodate the weapon.

Throughout the game Rebecca and Billy can also choose to work together or split up and go off and investigate an area on their own, which is done normally at the player's discretion but there are also some situations where its required for one of the characters to do some investigation on their own.  This also plays a key part in the puzzle solving portions of the game of which there are plenty of puzzles strewn through the game that requires either character or in some cases both characters to solve.

GRAPHICS

As for the graphics, well RE0 already looked great in its original release for the Nintendo gamecube but its PS4 HD remaster looks fantastic as the game's environments are riched and detailed even if they serve as 2D backdrops although the game does feature some environmental moving effects such as fire, wind and rain etc. 

And what is even better is the character models, which look terrific for their time even if Rebecca and Billy aren't quite lifelike, their remastered models on the PS4 look very impressive for their time as do the zombies and other monsters, which look suitably horrible but in a good way (well sort of!).  In short RE0 is a game that has aged well graphically speaking and with its HD remaster it looks even better.

MUSIC AND VOICE ACTING

As for the music well its a pretty good score by Seiko Kobuchi and it resembles alot of the other scores, which the usual mix of foreboding tension and terror thrown in.  Its pretty much what you would come to expect from an RE score and it works pretty well overall. 

As for the voice acting well its not too brilliant but it certainly is an improvement on the laughable performances that featured in the original Resident Evil game on the PS1!  The performances are fairly credible even if the delivery of the characters lines are somewhat a bit stilted in feel but that is something the RE games would remedy as they progressed. 

FLAWS

As for flaws....yes RE0 has a fair few even if it is a pretty good game in its own right its gameplay formulae does have its problems.

And to kick off one of the main problems is to do with both characters only having six spaces for items in their inventory as eight would have been a better choice.  And this is also compounded by the fact that larger weapons require two spaces, so that's you already having to give up some potentially important items to accommodate them!  The sharing system for items does help remedy this a little bit but not quite enough for it to be not a pain. 

Another issue is of course to do with the static movement in the game as its exactly the same as in the previous RE games up to this point with the character's clunky movement mechanics, which sees them being unable to run in a straight line and run into walls all the time.  This wouldn't be too bad but the gameplay movement its far from realistic as when they hit a wall they still keep running! 

Further to this issue of movement is a problem to do with getting the character into a proper spot to pick up an item as sometimes you really need to fiddle with your character's positioning to pick up an item in the first place, which can take several goes before they finally do pick the item up!  And this can also be an issue when it comes to a character needing to climb say a box to get over to the other side of a room as you need to get them right centre before they will actually do it!  So I think its safe to say that the gameplay mechanics of the series by the time we hit RE0 really were in dire need of an overhaul!

I also felt that there were probably just a few too many puzzles in the game at times, which were more than liberally sprinkled around the game for the characters to have to solve.  Now to be fair they are not quite as frequent and annoying as they appeared in the remake of the original RE but there are still plenty to be found and never having been a fan of puzzle solving this has always been the most tedious aspect of any game in the series.

And lastly I would have to say that the characters of Rebecca and Billy really aren't that well developed in the game either as they seem pretty uninvolved with one another and despite helping each other, the only bit of humourous bi-play between them was when the first met and Billy asks if she was fantasising over him!  Well for starters she had only just clapped eyes on him!  But for the rest of the game their interactions are very cut and dry, which make for some rather bland dialogue scenes between them.

Anyway that's it for the flaws.

SUM UP

So to sum up, Resident Evil Zero is a very solid entry in the series and its packs in plenty of good action and suspenseful setpieces that will keep most fans of the franchise entertained.  The co-op style gameplay of controlling both characters at different times also makes for a somewhat refreshing change from what has gone before where we had only small sections where you would play a different character.  The game also has great graphics and its PS4 remaster looks terrific as it really enhances the character models and the environments of the visuals themselves.     

It does however as I already mentioned still have some gameplay issues, particularly the movement in the game which is pretty clunky and at times static, which showed the series was badly in need of an overhaul of its movement mechanics, which it certainly got in the acclaimed Resident Evil 4.  Plus the characters in the game aren't that engaging or involving in the story either, which makes following the cutscenes not so much fun and often would have you skipping through them.

However if you can forgive all that, Resident Evil Zero is definitely still worth checking as it a gripping game and its gameplay despite any flaws, is still hugely addictive and it will keep you playing till the end.

Right, so that's it for now and I'll be back on here sometime soon when I can think up another review.

So till the next one its bye for now.

Top 5 Favourite Youtube channels

Right just for a change of pace I thought I would a top 5 list and this post will be on my favourite Youtube channels as of just now.  This will probably be based simply on how much I view them and of course the enjoyment factor involved.

So with that let's get going and take a look....

5. Randy Santel 

At No.5 is Randy Santel, who is a competitve eater/bodybuilder, who travels around the US and Europe trying out an extensive series of eating challenges.  This is basically another Man vs Food eatingt challenge show or rather Youtube channel but big Randy is an affable guy, who manages to pull off the show and make it both enjoyable and entertaining.

Big Randy however has his limits on how much he can eat and normally 8 pounds is around his max but he can certainly make a dent in most of his challenges and there are very few he has lot although one or two of them have seen him spew up!  Randy actually said in one of his Q and A's that he deliberately keeps to challenges of 8 pounds or under to give himself the best chance of winning so he can keep his motto true to his word "Win before you begin!".

The channel also uses a mix of different music tracks, which are dubbed over while Randy undergoes his challenges and they are largely rock or heavy metal tracks but they work well and some of them are really good.  Randy paradoxically tends to listen to stuff on his headphones such as Taylor Swift etc or even Eminem, which is at odds with the stuff he has dubbed over!

The only nagging points about the channel are that Randy tends to use the same phrases over and over such as "Very, very excited tonight!" but to be fair he does acknowledge himself he uses it too much and occassionally changes it to "I'm frickin pumped!" or "Extra, extra excited!".  And perhaps some of the videos get a bit repetitive with the content of him setting up to eat and doing the challenege and so on.

However any negatives are outweighed by the enjoyment of the channel and Randy's amiable personality helps carry it along nicely, so it deserves a place on at No.5.

4. Cameralabs 

At No.4 is Cameralabs, and this is the first of a few photography channels as I'm a photographer myself, so naturally I'm interested in listening to the pundits harping on about the latest gear.  This channel is run by professional camera reviewer, Gordon Laing, who has the enviable job of testing out the latest camera gear before doing extensive reviews on how they fair.

Initially however the channel comprised purely of Gordon giving background info on camera gear and giving tips aswell sample clips and still footage of cameras he tests.  But recently it has changed to incorporate Gordon's very enjoyable reviews with the American professional photographer, Doug Kaye and the two of them together enjoy a nice rapport together as they discuss the latest cameras and other gear.  Initially however they did their reviews on the "This week in photo" TWIP network but they ended changing over to doing the reviews on Cameralabs.

The videos do go into extensive detail on the camera features and they mainly consist of Gordon doing most of the talking throughout but Doug also throws in his tuppence too and together they provide reviews that informative and entertaining.  Its also interesting as you learn about new kit and the differences between camera technology e.g. APS-C, Full Frame, Micro Four Thirds etc.

Although it has to be said it does occassionally get a bit dry in content and some of the techno babble get's a bit over my head and even sometimes I end up nodding off watching it.  But overally its generally alot of fun and a channel well worth watching, so it warrants its place here at No.4.  

3. Cinemasins

At No.3 is the popular channel, Cinemasins, which is of course a channel, which looks at a different film each time and its commentator, Jeremy Scott, points that film's flaws or "sins" for everyone.  And its generally a pretty funny, well observed channel and Scott really does dig out some of the "sins" that you might have not picked up on or even indeed totally agree (although I don't always agree with Jeremy!).

Some of the channel's best videos have included "Face/off" where Jeremy picks through the film's various sins, most notably how can both men undergo facial surgery yet look exactly the same in terms of height, eyes, body-shape etc of the person they are taking the appearance of!  Then there is the stupid idea of just how could Sean Archer (played by Nicholas Cage and John Travolta) can miraculously escape from prison and know how to override the prison security system when he has never seen it before!   

"Batman Returns" is also great as Scott observes that it "really is a truly shitty Batman movie!" and one of his most references in the film comes when we seen Bruce Wayne watch TV in his mansion and the TV is placed quite close to his log fire which prompts Jeremy to say "Why place the TV so close to the fire!  Won't it melt soon?!".  

Other favourites I could mention but would take too long to go into include Die Hard 2, The Rock, Star Wars: The Force Awakens, Superman II, Showgirls, Rocky IV and many more and again Jeremy's criticisms are well observed and generally pretty funny.

The channel does have some drawbacks however as there are sometimes where Jeremy does rip into some films rather unfairly and they are maybe films I personally enjoyed that he might hate (e.g Star Trek III or Revenge of the Sith, I mean is it really that bad??? Yeah the other two prequels suck for sure!).  However there may also be films that Jeremy really likes that I don't get such as Wall-E (one of the all time most BORING films), Unbreakable (one of the dullest films ever!) and Mad Max: Fury Road (totally overrated!).  Its like Jeremy falls victim of the opinion of what is popularly good among filmgoers rather than go against the flow at any time (although at least that's how I see it at times).

But that aside, Cinemasins is a lot of fun and well worth checking out for the fun factor of seeing your favourite films and of course some of your least favourite getting a roasting and so it deserves a place here at No.3.

2. Thomas Heaton 

At No.2 is another photography channel, which is of course belonging to the English photographer, Thomas Heaton, who really has made a name for himself with his channel so far and righly so as his videos are both very informative and enjoyable and they showcase his stunning work nicely.

Thomas did start out however making very few videos but as time has gone on and his channel has grown in popularity he is now regularly putting out content on a weekly basis and he is also adding alot of variety in his videos and not just limiting them to landscape photo trips as he does interviews, featurettes on upcoming projects, photo-lab printing, software editing, also even camera gear he uses aswell as the odd hook-up with other photographers.

Thomas also is very well travelled in his videos as he is not limited to the UK and he has travelled to various countries such as America, Norway, Iceland and probably a few more that we might not know about.  The production value of his videos have also improved very much overtime and he makes good use of music on his channel and picks some nice ambient tracks that convey the feeling of what he is trying to convey with his photography.

Some of Thomas's videos also include his now wife, Charlotte although you do get the impression she is quite camera shy as she is often seen turning her head or Tom has the camera pointed away from her.  However Tom's dog, Monty, is far from shy and Tom is often seen with Monty on some of his travels.

There aren't too many downsides to Thomas's channel except perhaps there are times where I think he is just a bit too considered in his photography and that he will trek thousands of miles and presumably fork thousands of pounds to travel someone to take probably no more than half a dozen pictures at a time!  I mean if it were me I would be taking hundreds of pictures on my trips there!  But again, Thomas to be fair being a professional and a "considered" shooter that takes his time and plans out his shots carefully and that does allow for him to cut down on the otherwise time-consuming process of trawling through hundreds of photos to get to that one killer shot.

So overall Thomas Heaton's channel is definitely one of the most informative and enjoyable photography channels on Youtube and it definitely deserves it place at No.2.

And before I get to No.1 (and in the spirit of Watchmojo) here are a few honourable mentions....

First man photography - This is another photography channel, which is also pretty enjoyable and its presenter, Adam Karnacz does a good job in presenting his videos and keeping the content varied and entertaining to watch.  Adam's early videos did start off with him looking a bit nervous and self-conscious but as time his gone on he has become more self-assured in presenting them and he has even toned down his intros as he used to bellow out "Hello, I'M ADAM!!!" when he introduced himself.  Adam's content includes everything such as landscape vlogs, photo critiques of amateur photographers work and how to do different types of photography such as Infrared, Macro, Smoke and Waterdrops as well as tutorials on how to do various edits in Lightroom.  So overall this is a very good channel and one that is definitely worth checking out.

Oliver Harper - this is a film review website, which is run by Oliver Harper, who is a reviewer and former cinema projectionist.  Oliver puts together retrospective reviews on some of his favourite films and films that he might consider as being overlooked and his reviews are always well edited, presented and very informative.  Oliver does also does some full length commentaries on various films with some of his friends but they tend to be a mixed bag and can be a bit boring at times to listen to as they can veer off point during watching a movie.  But overall this is another good channel worth a look.

David Thorpe - Another photography channel run by retired professional English photographer, David Thorpe, who is now a dedicated user with Micro Four Thirds cameras (which I also personally use!). David reviews mainly cameras but also sometimes other gear, too, and his reviews are always self-deprecating and charming as he displays his warmth and humour throughout.  His reviews at times can get a bit technical, especially if you are a newbie to photography but its still worth looking out for his channel and he's always very responsive to any questions you might ask him, so he get's my vote for sure.

Matt Stonie - This is another competitve eating channel featuring former World No.1. competitive eater, Matt Stonie, who weighs over a mere 8 stone yet THIS guy can eat well over an 8th of his own bodyweight in one sitting (we're talking maybe 20 pounds of food!).  Matt's video have gotten more and more fun over the years as he has gotten older he has gotten better at presenting them and the majority also feature his younger brother, Morgan, who is hilarious at times with his stoned sounding voice and his quips.  Matt just recently completed a challenge over a whopping 20,000 calories consisting of three giant burgers, 75 chicken wings, three bowls of chili and a big bowl of chili Doritos!  Its definitely a channel worth a look and has to be seen to be believed!

Channel Awesome - Then of course we have Channel Awesome, which features different contributors but is mainly known for the "Nostalgia Critic" played by Doug Walker, who has been doing the show for nearly 10 years now as he plays the volatile "critic" who reviews mainly bad films and often loses it in the process.  The channel however does feature plenty of other content such as "Top 5" hosted by Walter Banasiak, which is worth a watch he counts down the best and worst performances of famous Hollywood actors.  Doug also does reviews of himself in person along with his brother, Rob Walker, which can be fun although their voices sound a little familiar at times!  Then there is Tamara Chambers, who frequently works on the NC videos, who has her own show "Tamara's never seen" where she reviews films she has never seen before, some of which are a real surprise.  So Channel Awesome has plenty of "awesome" content worth a gander.

And the No.1 Youtube channel for me is....

1. e6 Vlogs 

Yes at No.1 is yet another photography channel, e6 Vlogs, which is hosted by English professional landscape and travel photographer, Craig Roberts.

Why is he at No.1???  Well for a few reasons, for starters his photography is excellent and he also uses Micro Four Thirds cameras, which as I said before I use and I am a big fan of myself, and he namely uses one of my favourite cameras: the Olympus E-M1 to take most of his images but he does also use film cameras, too such as a Holga.  Craig's videos also offers much variety in his locations as he travels to landscape areas such as the Peak and Lake districts and Northern coast, but also does urban city-walk shoots in different cities such as London, Newcastle, Manchester and Leeds.       

Craig's videos also are pretty entertaining, too, as they often display his quirky sense of humour and in one episode where he shoots on location at an unknown beach, he boasts he has bought a new drone and says "let's go fly!" and we see camera viewpoint as if a drone is taking off.  However in the next scene we see Craig walking through the shot, holding a small tripod (or selfie-stick) with his video camera on it and he stops and sheepishly looks at the screen and says "I don't have a drone".

Another example is when Craig is at the Peak district and he climbs up Mam Tor and enroute he sees a sign that says "Beware cliff edges, keep children under supervision at all times" and Craig turns to the camera and says "But I don't know anyone called Cliff Edges!".  And lastly another example is in another video where Craig does a shoot out in the fields somewhere and at the end of the video he walks toward an open pathway and next to it is a narrow gate, but instead of choosing the pathway he goes through the narrow gate instead!

However next to Craig's photography, another highlight is also his choice of music, which is also excellent as his choice is pretty eclectic but does feature alot of easy listening music whether it be electronica, funk, jazz or other and he uses them very well to fit the video footage.  And I regularly find myself downloading the tracks that he puts up from Youtube, so that's definitely a compliment to the guy's taste in music, so perhaps he should be a DJ, too in his spare time!

And lastly Craig is also generally very responsive to any questions you ask him on his channel too in the comments and he has probably not left one question I've asked unanswered and that's one area where I think Thomas Heaton needs to catch up!  Nah, I do appreciate these photographers are very busy of course and they can't always take time to answer my silly questions but I digress a little.

The only bad thing I'd say about his channel however is that the content is a little more sparse than some of the other channels as he has only just over 30 videos so far but I think Craig is now starting to upload more content a bit more regularly now and let's hope he continues to do so as his videos are great fun, informative and feature some great photography.  So for me this right now is my favourite Youtube channel, so I think it more than deserves the top spot.

Right, so that's it for now and I will be back sometime soon with yet another review or post of some kind.  Till the next un its bye for now and to those Youtubers, keep up the good work and keep that content going.

Later!

The Untouchables revisited "Brings a knife to a gunfight!"

Ok, so I've been doing quite a few post revisitations lately and I figured why not do another???  So this post will be a re-write on my original review of the 1980s crime thriller, The Untouchables.  So after 30 years (unreal I know!) how does film hold up???  Well let's grab a badge and a gun and find out....

And the usual warning is coming....

PLOT SPOILERS ARE AHEAD!!!

STORY 

So, the film is set during the prohibtion era in Chicago in 1930, where Al Capone (Robert De Niro) reigns supreme and has most of the city under his control, and he supplies liquor at high prices.  One of the bar's in the city however refuses to buy Capone's beer, and as a result the bar is destroyed in an explosion by Capone's men.

Meanwhile, bureau treasury officer Eliot Ness (Kevin Costner) who has been summoned to stop Capone, and he organsies a raid on Capone's warehouses, only to find that he has been set up as the warehouse crates contain japanese umbrellas.  Humiliated in the press, Ness soon is met by the mother of a girl who killed in the explosion in the bar, who insists that he stop Capone now.  Ness is then compelled to meet up with one of the tough beat cops, Malone (Sean Connery), whom he met on a walkway bridge the night before, he asks Malone for his help, but Malone refuses as he doesn't want to risk his life (which was the reason he walks the beat).

Ness however is soon met by Malone again who tells him he will help him get Capone, and they set about putting together a small team of men, which includes a bureau accountant Oscar Wallace (Charles Anthony Smith) and police trainee and sharpshooter, George Stone (Andy Garcia).  Together the men successfully launch a raid on one of Capone's warehouses, where they impound the liquor and arrest the men.  As a result Capone, at one of his dinner parties, kills the manager of the warehouse in full view of his men, with a baseball bat.

Capone then sends his main enforcer, Frank Nitti (Billy Drago) to intimidate Ness, by sending him a friendly warning about his family.  Ness then sends his wife and his daughter away from their home, and at the same time Malone arrives on the scene with news that of a big international shipment coming in over the Canadian border.  Ness and his men travel to the border and with the help of the Canadian mounties they raid the liquor shipment.  Ness kills one of Capone's men in self defence during the raid, and Stone is injured in the arm by a gunshot.

Ness also interrogates one of Capone's men, George (Brad Sullivan), who they captured, and initially refuses to talk, but Malone takes the dead man who Ness killed earlier and shoots him in the head, after which George panics and cooperates.  On hearing the news of the raid, Capone is furious and orders Ness to be killed as well his men and his family.

As a result Nitti smuggles himself into the Chicago police station, disguised as a police officer, he shoots Oscar and George dead in a lift.  Enraged by this, Ness storms into Capone's hotel and confronts him on the stairs, but Malone restrains and takes him away, leaving Capone yelling abuse at Ness.

After this the DA (Clifton James) whom Ness was using to prosecute Capone, decides to drop the case. Malone angry at Ness's defeat tells him to stall the DA as he will try and find out the location of Capone's bookeeper, Walter Payne (Jack Kehoe) with whom if they capture him, they can force him to testify against Capone.

Malone meets with his police chief, Mike Dorsett (Richard Bradford) whom leaked the info about the previous shipments, and forces him to reveal the whereabouts of the bookeeper.  However before Malone can meet with Ness to tell him the info, Nitti sets up an ambush at Malone's whom and shoots him down with a machine gun.  Ness soon arrives at Malone's apartment, and with his dying breath, Malone tells Ness that the bookeeper is a on train.Ness with Stone then heads to the train station where he has a gunfight on the stairs of the station with Capone's men who guard Payne, who they kill and take Payne to stand trial.

Payne is soon put on trial and testifies against Capone in court and during the trial Capone consults with Nitti, and Ness notices that Nitti is wearing a gun inside his jacket.  Ness tells the court bailiff to escort Nitti outside the courtroom, where Ness searches him and takes away his gun, but Nitti reveals he has a permit for it, written by the mayor of Chicago.  Ness however also takes a pack of matches from Nitti's jacket, which reveals the address of Malone's apartment, which leads Nitti to flee in panic, shooting the bailiff.

And from here Ness engages Nitti in a cat and mouse gunfight on the rooftops as Ness tries to get revenge for the deaths of Malone and Oscar while his court case with Capone hangs in the balance... 

THOUGHTS 

The Untouchables was critically acclaimed on its release and its fairly easy to see why as it is a very solid, polished and highly entertaining crime thriller.  There have been in the past before it plenty of crime films, but in the Untouchables we got a great mix of drama, action as well as moments of humour.

The film however is of course based on real life events but it also does take some liberties with the truth aswell but I will get more into them later in the review and for the sake of Hollywood sensationalism you will always get some distortions of the truth.  Regardless of this though the film still is well crafted and has a largely fine script by the acclaimed playwright, David Mamet.   

PERFORMANCES AND NOTABLE SCENES (Warning: this section will contain strong language and spoilers!) 

Performance wise the film is mainly very good and its features a strong solid cast.

However I have to start with Kevin Costner, who while he is a very decent and competent actor, I feel his performance here as Eliot Ness is a bit wooden and stilted at times and he lacks the intensity required to play the character.  This is not however to say that he doesn't have some good moments in the film as he certainly does have some good scenes and overall his performance isn't bad.

And to mention a few for starters there is the scene where Ness first meets Malone on a bridge as Ness throws away a piece of paper with a message from his wife saying she's proud of him and Malone tells off Ness for throwing his garbage away.  And in the scene Ness reaches into his jacket pocket for something but Malone stops him and places his truncheon on the jacket and he asks "OK pal, why the mohashka??  Why are you packing the gun?!" and Ness says "I'm a treasury officer!" and Malone takes a moment and says "Alright, just remember what we talked about now!" and walks off.

This however leaves Ness in a state of anger and disbelief and he walks after Malone and says "Hey, wait a minute! What the hell kind of policemen you got in this god damn city? You just turned your back on an armed man!" and Malone says "You're a treasury officer" and Ness sharply says "How do you know that?!  I just told I was??" and Malone says "Who would claim to be that, who was not?? Hmm?".

Then there is perhaps Costner's best scene in the film where an associate of Capone's, Alderman (Del Close) tries to brive Ness in his office.  And in the scene, Ness suddenly cuts off Alderman's bribe offer and asks Malone, Stone and Oscar to come into the office.  And Ness tells Alderman "In roman times, when a when a fellow was convicted of trying to bribe a public official, they would cut off his nose, and sew him in a bag with a wild animal, and throw him in a river" and Ness crumples up Alderman's bribe envelope and tells him "You tell your master that we must agree to DISAGREE!" and he throws the enevelope at Alderman.  And Alderman warns him "You're making a mistake" and Ness says "Yeah I know, well I've made them before I'm beginning to enjoy them!" and he grabs Alderman by his jacket and says "And you tell Capone, I'll see him in hell!" and he throws him out.

Another good scene is just after (SPOILER!!) Oscar is murdered by Nitti, Ness storms into the hotel where Capone is staying and he sees Capone walk down the stairs with his men and his young son.  And one of Capone's goons walks toward him and says "Something you want in here?" and Ness says "My friend was killed today" and the goon says "I  don't care!" and Ness says "You don't care...." and decks the goon and he says "Now he does!".

And Ness challenges Capone "Come on here, Capone! You want to fight? You and me, right here?! That's it, come on! What's the matter? You afraid to come out from behind your men, you afraid to stand up for yourself?!".  And this pisses off Capone, who says "You wanna do it now?!  You wanna do the mat right now?!" and Ness shouts "Yeah! Come on, you guinea son of a bitch!" which riles Capone even more and he shouts "You talk to me like that infront of my son?!  Fuck you and your family!" and Ness goes for his gun but Malone suddenly arrives and restrains him and they leave.

Then there is the gunfight between Ness and Nitti, which kicks off with Ness finding a pack of matches from Nitti's jacket and he lights one and from the back of the pack he sees the address of Malone's apartment, which Ness immediately susses that Nitti killed him.  And Ness says "1630 Racine....you know I had a friend that once live there...!" and Nitti pulls his gun out and does a runner and Ness chases up onto the rooftops.

And after Ness prepares to arrest Nitti, he says to him "They're gonna burn you, buddy!" and Nitti says "Oh yeah?" and Ness says "Yeah!  I'm going to see you burn, you son of a bitch, because you killed my friend!" and he pushes Nitti away.  And Nitti taunts Ness by saying "He died like a pig" and Ness grabs Nitti and says "What did you say???" and Nitti again says "I said your friend died screaming like a stuck Irish pig. Now you think about that when I beat the rap!".  And as Nitti walks away, a furious Ness suddenly walks up behind him and pushes Nitti off the rooftop to his death and Nitti screams as he falls to the ground and Ness shouts at him "DID HE SOUND ANYTHING LIKE THAT????!!!".

Sean Connery next up puts in a terrific performance as the tough veteran cop, Malone, who helps Ness in bringing down Capone for which he won an Academy award for best supporting actor.  And despite the lapses in his so-called Irish accent, Connery is great throughout and it would be tough not to feel for him in his final scene.

Connery has his share of great moments in the film and he gets the best dialogue and it would be hard to mention all his great scenes so I will confine myself to a few and for starters there is the scene where Malone meets with Ness in a church.  And the two of them sit together and Malone says to Ness "You said you wanted to get Capone. Do you really wanna get him? You see what I'm saying is, what are you prepared to do?" and Ness says "Anything within the law" and Malone says "And THEN what are you prepared to do?!  You see what I'm saying?  If you are gonna open the ball on these people you have to be prepared to go ALL the way!  Because they are not gonna give up the right until one of you is dead!".

And Ness says "I wanna get Capone, I don't know how to get him" and Malone says "You wanna know how to get Capone? This is how you get him.  They pull a knife, you pull a gun. He sends one of yours to the hospital, you send one of his to the morgue.  THAT'S the CHICAGO way! And that's how you get Capone!  Now do you want to do that? Are you ready to do that? I'm offering you a deal. Do you want this deal?".  And Ness says "I have sworn to capture this man with all legal powers at my disposal and I will do so!" and Malone takes a moment and says "Well, the Lord hates a coward" and he shakes hands with Ness and says "Do you know what a blood oath is, Mr Ness?" and Ness says "Yes" and Malone says to him "Good, cos' you just took one!".

Then there is the scene where Malone and Ness try and recruit a rookie cop for their team down at a training firing range and Malone questions, an Italian American, George Stone (Garcia).  And in the scene Malone asks Stone "Where are you from, Stone?" and Stone says "From the South side" and Malone says to him "Stone. George Stone. That's your name? What's your REAL name?!" and Stone says "That is my real name" but Malone persists "Nah, what was it before you CHANGED it?!" and Stone takes a moment and says "Giuseppe Petri".  And this angers Malone, who says "Jeez, I knew it!  That's all you need, one thieving wop on the team!" and George asks him "Hey, what's that you say?" and Malone carrying a clipboard prods it against George's chest saying "I said you're a lying member of a no-good race!".  And this prompts George batter the clipboard out of Malone's hands and he points his gun at Malone's chin and says "Much better than you, you stinking Irish shit pig!" and all of a suddeny Malone is impressed and says "Oh, I like him!".

Another good scene is when Malone and Ness along with Stone and Oscar go on their first raid on Capone as they prepare to break into one of Capone's liquor warehouses.  And Malone says to Ness as they stand outside the warehouse door "If you walk through this door now, you're walking into a world of trouble and there's no turning back, you understand?" and Ness says "Yes, I do" and Malone then takes an axe and smashes the door in and unlocks and they go in and raid the warehouse.  And as Malone says to workers "All this stuff is impounded!  You're all under arrest!" and as the manager walks up and says "Hey this isn't good!  This isn't right!  You got a warrant?!" Malone replies "Sure, here's my warrant!" and he hits him twice in the stomach with the butt of his shotgun and Malone says to the others "How do you think he feels now? Better? Or worse?!".

Then we have the scene where Malone confronts the police chief, Mike Dorsett as he presses Mike to find out where they can find Capone's book keeper, Walter Payne.  And in the scene the two of them argue loudly and Malone shouts at Mike "Mike, they ruined this town!  And for 20 years I can't eat my food with the shit that's goin' and saying I'm a cop!" and Mike shouts at him "Bullshit!  Fuckin bullshit!".  And Malone shouts at him "I need to know where this guy is and I need to now, or I'm gonna rat you out for all the shit that I know you've done in your life!  I'm gonna turn you over!" and the two of them start to fight, which ends with Malone slamming Mike against a wall and taking out his gun.  And Malone says to Mike "Right, let's cut the woofing, pal!  You tell me, or you goin' to hospital or the fuckin morgue!". 

And last of all there is the scene where one of Capone's thugs sneaks into his house armed with a switchblade and as he tries to creep up on him, Malone suddenly turns around carrying a sawn-off shotgun.  And Malone laughs saying "Isn't that just like a wop?!  Brings a knife to a gunfight!" and Malone starts to chase the thug out of his apartment and he shouts "Get out of here, ya dego bastard!  Go on!  Get your ass out of here!" only for him stop at his door and see Nitti from a distance with a Tommy gun, who opens fire on him....

Robert De Niro here also does a fine job as Al Capone and for the role he put on 30 pounds in weight (half the weight he put on for "Raging Bull") although he still does have some hammy moments in the film himself, however overall when it comes to play a sinister gangster, few do it better than De Niro.

And De Niro has quite a few good scenes in the film, too that include the film's opening scene where Capone is about to be shaved and some newspaper reporters stand over him asking some questions.  And one of the reporters asks Capone "And what do you say to those about your reputation is that you control your business through violence.  That those that don't purchase your products are dealt with violently".  And as the barber is about to shave Capone, Capone flinches a little at the question, which accidentally causes the barber to cut his chin but Capone puts him at ease and says "Its alright" and Capone says to the reporter "I grew up in a tough neighbourhood. We used to say, "You can get further with a kind word and a gun than you can with just a kind word."  And in that neighbourhood it might've been true.  And sometimes your reputation follows you.  There is violence in Chicago of course, but not by me and not by anybody I employ.  And I'll tell why, because it's not good business".

And to paradoxically show Capone's real nature there is the scene where Capone, not long after Ness's first successful raid on the gangster's liquor warehouse, Capone addresses his men at a dinner party.  And in the scene Capone addresses his men and says to them that his main passion in life is baseball and he sets up a scenario about the importance of teamwork while walking around holding a baseball bat.  And Capone says to the men of the imaginary baseball player "If his team don't field... what is he? You follow me? No one. Sunny day, the stands are full of fans. What does he have to say? "I'm goin' out there for myself!".  But... I get nowhere unless the team wins!".  And Capone stands behind the warehouse manager who was raided and proceeds to beat him to death with the baseball bat.  

Then we have the scene where Capone learns that Ness and his men seized control of his international shipment at the Canadian border, which enrages him further.  And Capone furiously addresses his men, shouting "I want you to get this fuck where he breathes! I want you to find this nancy-boy Eliot Ness, I want him DEAD! I want his family DEAD! I want his house burned to the GROUND! I wanna go there in the middle of the night and I wanna PISS ON HIS ASHES!".

And last of all is the scene where Ness confronts Capone at his luxurious hotel (Capone's that is!) and in the scene Capone taunts Ness angrily and he says to him "You fuck, you got nothing!  You're nothing but alot of talk and a badge!  You ain't got nothing in court, you ain't got the bookkeeper!  And if you were a man, you woulda done it by now!  But you ain't got a thing!  Young punk!".  

Andy Garcia next up is also very good as the young rookie cop, George Stone (aka Giuseppe Petri) who helps Ness in their attempts to take down Capone.  

Garcia's performance doesn't quite stand out as much as the others in terms of his scenes, so he kind of takes a bit of a back seat when it comes to alot of dialogue.  Although his most notable scenes are his first when Stone meets with Ness and Malone at the firing range.  And in the scene Malone taunts Stone by saying to him "I said you're a lying member of a no-good race!" and Stone knocks Malone's clipboard out his hands and pulls a gun on him and says "Its much better than you, you stinking Irish shit pig!".  However, Malone is impressed by Stone's grit and he says to him "You just joined the treasury department, son!" and Stone smiles and says "Yeah, ok".  

And lastly there is the scene near the end where Stone walks into Ness's office after Capone's trial is over and Stone says to Ness "I want to thank you for this" i.e. his opportunity and Ness says "No, thank you".  And as Ness takes out Malone's callbox key and pendant of St Jude, Stone says to Ness "Ah, Mr Ness, I think he would have wanted you to have this" and Ness says to him "No, he would have wanted a cop to have it" and he gives the pendant to Stone and shakes his hand and Ness walks out.

Charles Martin Smith also does very well in his role as the FBI accountant, Oscar Wallace, who is part of Ness's "Untouchables" team and he provides a bit of humour to the film with Wallace being so nerdily obssessed with his task to try and get Capone for income tax evasion.

And Smith's good scenes include the one where Oscar introduces himself to Ness and tells him he has an idea to get Capone and he shows Ness a statement and says to him of Capone "He has not filed a return since 1926!" and Ness blankly says "A return" and Oscar says "An income tax return!".  And Ness looks at Oscar and says "What do you do at the bureau, Mr Wallace?" and Oscar says "Oh, I'm an accountant!" and Ness starts to laugh and says "Would you excuse me for a second?".  

And lasly there is the scene where Ness and the others fly in a plane to the Canadian border and Oscar suggests to Ness that they should try and prosecute Capone for income tax evasion.  And Oscar says to Ness "You know he's making over 3 million dollars a year?.  But he's paid no taxes, nothing's in his name. If we can establish any payments to him, we can prosecute him for income tax evasion".  And Ness, who is sleepy says "What?" and Oscar shows Ness Capone's accounts book and he says "I said we can prosecute him for income tax evasion!".  And Ness looks at the book and says "Try a murderer for not paying his taxes?" and Oscar says "Well its better than nothing!" and Ness asks "Alright, how do we link him to the money?" and Oscar says "I don't know" and Ness gives him back the book and says "Go to sleep, Oscar!". 

Billy Drago is also pretty good as Frank Nitti, Capone's second in command, who is not afraid to get his hands dirty and do Capone's dirtywork as he targets Ness's men.  Drago also plays the part quite sinisterly too even if his depiction of Nitti isn't factually accurate (but then few Hollywood films are!).

And Drago's two main good scenes are firstly the one where Nitti parks outside Ness's house and issues him a friendly warning of sorts.  And Nitti says to Ness "Nice house, I said nice house!  You live there?!" and Ness stops and smiles and says "Yes" and Nitti who notices Ness carrying a present asks him "Little girl having a birthday, huh?".  And Ness suddenly becomes suspicious and Nitti says "Nice to have a family" and Ness says "Yes, it is" and Nitti suddenly becomes more sinister and says to him "A man should take care, make sure nothing happens to them!" and he drives off quickly.

And lastly there is the scene where Ness chases Nitti across the rooftops of the courthouse and Ness finally arrests Nitti but just before that Ness sees Nitti dangling on a rope as he tries to break through a window below and Ness is about to shoot him but stops himself and Nitti then looks up and grins as he sees Ness.  So Nitti says to Ness "Well here I am, treasure man, come on, arrest me!  What are you waiting for?!  Don't just stand there, arrest me!" and he holds out his hand, which Ness grabs who warns him "Don't push me!".  And as Ness removes Nitti's jacket and gun he tells him "I'm gonna come see you burn, you son of a bitch, because you killed my friend!" and Nitti says "He died like a pig".  And Ness says to Nitti "What did you say???" and Nitti taunts him "I said your friend died screaming like a stuck Irish pig.  Now you think about that when I beat the rap!".  

Richard Bradford is very good as the corrupt police chief, Mike Dorsett, who secretly slips info to Malone about Capone's shipments.

And Bradford's most notable scene is when Malone confronts Mike over the whereabouts of Capone's bookkepper, Payne.  And in the scene the two men run into a back alley while it rains heavily and Mike says "Where are we goin' for a swin?!  Get out of the rain, you fool!" and Mike angrily asks Malone "What?!  What?!".  And Malone says "I need just on more piece of information" and Mike says "One more?!  I just risked my life for ya!" and Malone says "I need to find that bookkeeper" and Mike says "You're crazy!  I warned you to get out of town, if they find out it was me I'm dead!".  However Malone continues to press Mike "I need to find that bookkepper!" and Mike angrily shouts "Your fuckin nuts, man!  Your fuckin out of your mind!". 

And as they continue to Malone angrily says to Mike "I need to know where this guy is and I need to now, or I'll rat you out for all the shit I know you'd one in your life!  I'm gonna turn you over!" and Mike stares at him and says "This is dead man talkin to me" and Malone says "Is it?!" and Mike says "You're dead" and tries to walk away but they start fighting.  And Mike appears to gain the upper hand and shouts "Who the hell do you think your are?!  I'll have your ass hangin from the flagpole in the mornin!". 

And last of all Patricia Clarkson does well as Ness's wife, Catherine, who's role in the film is rather small but she still does well with what she is given.  And for time I will just mention her first scene where Ness reads the paper about the bar being blown up at the start.  And Catherine says to Ness of the bombing "Yes, I heard it on the radio, but now its time to go to work" and Ness get's up and straightens Ness's shirt and his puts her hand through his hair "You'll make a good first impression" and they hug and she says "I love you, Eliot" and then she smiles and pushes him away and says "Now shoo!". 

DIRECTOR AND MUSIC

Finally moving onto the direction, Brian De Palma does a great job here with the film as he is an expert at cranking up the suspense during the film's tense action scenes especially in the scenes where Ness and his men raid Capone's men at the Canadian border, Malone's demise, the train station shootout and finally Ness's cat and mouse chase of Nitti. 

De Palma also proves his skills again when it comes to creating interesting and eye-catching visual compositions in the scenes, particularly the opening scene where we see an overhead shot of Capone sitting in a barber's chair surrounded by reporters.  Overall this is a consumate exercise in how to direct an action thriller from De Palma.   

As for the film's score by the legendary Ennio Morricone, its simply terrific and its main theme is very memorable and the score also has plenty of other highlights that include the Ness's raid at the Canadian border, the gunfight at the train station and also Ness's pursuit of Nitti over the courthouse rooftops.  And for me it easily stands out as one of Morricone's very best scores overall although he would go on to provide a similar score in the Clint Eastwood thriller, In the Line of Fire but for me this score is far better.

FLAWS (Warning: this section may contain spoilers!)

As for flaws....yeah OK as good as The Untouchables might be it still does have a few. 

And to start off it has to be said like quite a few Hollywood films, it heavily fictionalises the real life events behind Ness and Capone.  And in the film it depicts Ness as almost single handedly bringing down Capone and successfully prosecuting him for income tax evasion.  However in reality Ness had very little to do with Capone's actual prosecution in court as he had various grand jury cases before he was imprisoned. 

Another historical inaccuracy is the depiction of Frank Nitti in the film as Nitti is portrayed as more of a heavy than anything else, when in fact he was in acutally Capone's second in command and he headed the strong-arm and muscle operations, so while its possible he might have performed the odd hit, it seems unlikely he would have done it himself.  Also Nitti in the film is killed by Ness, which is again fictional as in reality, Nitti died years later, after he took over control of Capone's organisation, he later took his own life in 1943 in order to avoid prison.  In fact Nitti was portrayed more accurately in the crime film, Road to Perdition, 15 years later, by Stanely Tucci as a head business man and 2nd in command, rather than a heavy. 

In reality Ness also had a larger team of men with him, and not just four men, as in reality he had a team of 50 men which was eventually reduced to 11, and it seems very unlikely four men alone could bring down Capone's whole organisation! 

As for the film itself flaw wise I felt at times David Mamet's script somewhat overly simplified the events of the film, as he makes things happen rather quickly and simply.  As an example in the scene where Malone takes Ness on their first liquor raid, they do it out of the blue, almost on a whim, rather than plan it out or make a choice, and Malone coveniently catches Oscar walking into the room, where he promptly hands him a gun, and before we know it, they go on the raid!  

Actually I have to correct an error I made in my original post where particularly at the end where Capone's defence lawyer decides to instantly change his plea from not guilty to guilty, simply because Capone shoves him.  This is not quite the case because in the film as the judge decides to switch the juries due to the jurors being bribed by Capone and I'd assume since they would switch juries, the other jurors would not be bribed and would therefore probably not bring in a "not guilty" verdict, so Capone's lawyer recommended that he plead guilty. 

However there is an additional error here in the film because apparently a defence lawyer cannot have the power to directly overturn the defendent's verdict as he would need to really have his client's consent before doing so.  So again Capone's lawyer makes a rather rash decision without even consulting with Capone in the first place! 

I also felt throughout the film that Oscar kept making his case that they could prosecute Capone for income tax evasion, yet Ness seems to ignore this until later, and its almost like Mamet is trying to remind us of this and throw it in our faces as to how they eventually prosecuted Capone!  Yes I think we get it, David!

Another daft scene in the film for me comes when Ness during his raid at the Canadian border shoots one of Capone's thugs, who doesn't speak English but Ness afterward shouts at the dead man "What are you deaf?!  Didn't you hear what I said?!  What is this??!! A game???!!".  However Ness has just shot the guy dead so surely he must realise the man could not hear him since he's now deceased!  Its a moment in the film that always kind of bugged me.

And last of all I found it strange how Nitti murdered three people during Ness's chase of him yet none of this really get's back to Capone in the courtroom!  I mean his right-hand man has just killed three people but nothing is really made of it given that Capone is in direct control of this man, yet he has just ran amok shooting people!  Although Ness probably was keeping it quiet during the court proceedings anyway.  I also found it quite convenient how Nitti was able to land neatly into a diagonally parked car as he fell to his death but that's another thing!   

Anyway that's it for the flaws.

SUM UP

So to sum up The Untouchables is still a highly enjoyable, suspenseful and engrossing thriller, and after 30 years is still as entertaining as it was on its release, and regardless of any of its flaws, De Palma and Mamet did a fine job in bringing the film to the big screen.

Right, so that's it for now and I will be back here again sometime in the near future with yet another post for you's.

Till then its bye fer now!