Better-than-average cop-drama. That's about the best one can say about this movie. For a crime drama, it is not very gritty and is filled with Hollywood clichés.

Reasonably interesting but could have been great. However, there are so many Hollywoodisms and glamourisations it feels quite superficial.

The weak script and formulaic movie-for-the-masses directing by Brian De Palma are compounded by the usual unconvincing performance from Kevin Costner. He alternates between dead boring and overly gung ho here.

Sean Connery is almost equally flat and unconvincing.

In fact, there's hardly a convincing and/or engaging performance to be found here. The only good one comes from Robert De Niro who is charming and suitably mean and scary as Al Capone.

Vastly overrated.

This movie was exciting and I could easily see the average viewer being impressed by it. Provided you only view it as ENTERTAINMENT and not history, you'll be fine. For its value as history, it is far less realistic than an episode of Mr. Peabody and Sherman (as he uses his WayBack Machine on the Bullwinkle Show to visit the past). Although Elliot Ness was a fine person, he was NOT responsible for the arrest or conviction of Al Capone. Sorry, it just didn't happen that way. Also, although it DID provide some realistic violence, the baseball bat scene with Capone was incredibly brutal and cannot be corroborated. Plus, some kids seeing this might just need an extensive round of therapy as a result. I guess this isn't a surprise, though, coming from the ultra-violent Brian DePalma. He is, apparently, a great genius as a director, though I am incredibly concerned what sort of spiritual cancer he has planted within all of us with his insistence on horrific violence. He and others like him will defend their right to free speech, but I can't help but feel a little dirty after watching his films.

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