Quartile rating: 8/10 · 1 rating
Elliot Ness, an ambitious prohibition agent, is determined to take down Al Capone. In order to achieve this goal, he forms a group given the nickname “The Untouchables”.
De Palma's The Untouchables is elevated primarily by its bravura direction and a cast firing on all cylinders — Connery's Oscar-winning turn and De Niro's menacing Capone are standouts. De Palma's cinematography is operatic and stylish, with set pieces like the Odessa Steps-homage train station sequence being genuinely iconic. The plot, however, is a fairly conventional rise-and-fall crime saga that takes some historical liberties without adding much depth. The ending, while satisfying in a crowd-pleasing sense, wraps things up a bit too neatly given the moral complexities suggested earlier in the film. Novelty sits at average — it's a polished, confident Hollywood crime film but not a reinvention of the genre.