'Scarface' is a Chaotic and Brutal Shakespearean Tragedy

I decided to finally watch Scarface, after getting hooked on several Al Pacino films, all because of this man's incredible acting when it comes to his characters. I was blown away by this film. I never knew it was about a man that rises to power, only to lose it all in the end. 

Watching his downfall is both tragic and well deserved. Tony Montana had everything in the palm of his hand, but his own paranoia and hatred led to his end, including many of his friends and family. 

This movie honestly felt like a Shakespearean tragedy, it has a huge moral lesson toward the end of the film. A man who had it all, lost everything in the end, by his own hands, because he took it all for granted. 

We follow the story of a man named Tony Montana, who is determined to become a powerful man.

Tony, his best friend Manny, and two other friends of theirs, Angel and Chi Chi are all determined to make it in life, after finally being able to come to America, landing in Miami. They are given a task by a stranger, who tells them to murder a man for him. They go through with the plan, and the four of them are given green cards as an award, and they are able to come to America legally, and get a job. 

Tony is immediately unhappy working in a sandwich shop, and he decides to confront a man named Omar, that Manny had met with, that promised money for their troubles of completing a task for him. Omar decides to give Manny and his group an even more difficult task this time around, telling them to meet up with another group, to buy drugs from them. 

This group knows that Tony and his group are bad news. Tony and Angel are captured, and Tony is forced to watch as his friend gets killed with a chainsaw. Tony is able to escape with the help of Manny and Chi Chi, who gun down the group. Tony goes after the main guy who killed his friend, and shoots him point blank in public. 

He escapes with Manny and Chi Chi, and they head over to deliver the drugs to Frank, Omar's boss. 

Tony and his two friends are welcomed into Frank's group.

Tony and his comrades meet Frank and his men, who are happy to welcome them into the group, after they learn about how crazy Tony is, making him stand out. Frank's wife, Elvira, also meets Tony and his friends, and Tony becomes enraptured by her upon first meeting. Manny warns Tony to stay away from her, since she belongs to Frank, but that doesn't stop Tony from wanting to pursue a romance with her. 

Tony and Manny then head to Tony's childhood home, where his mother sister, Gina, live. He gives money to his family, but while Gina is welcoming to her brother, his mother instantly rejects him. She is aware of his dangerous life, and doesn't want Gina to be pulled into his world of crime. Tony leaves the house, but Gina tells him that she will always love him, no matter what. He leaves the money with her, telling her to secretly help their mother financially while he is gone. 

Manny takes a liking to Gina when he sees her, and Tony threatens Manny, telling him to stay away from his sister. 

Tony is then sent to meet up with Sosa, a powerful drug dealer that he needs to make a deal with.

Tony and Omar meet with Sosa, and Tony attempts to make a deal with Sosa without the approval of Frank or Omar, pissing off his comrade. Sosa asks Tony to stay behind, and to have Omar leave by helicopter. Sosa has Tony watch as Omar is beaten and hung from the flying helicopter, as a warning to Tony. Sosa tells him that Frank should never have trusted Omar, he was hinted to have been a police informant. 

Tony tells Sosa that he never trusted him, and if he wants to kill Tony, he can go ahead with his murder. Sosa is impressed by his guts, and agrees to make a deal with Tony, without Frank's approval. However, he gives Tony a huge warning, that if he were to ever mess with him, he would pay the price. 

Tony goes back home to Frank, who is not happy with the new deal. Frank gives in to Tony's plan, but he plots a secret plan to get Tony killed, for betraying him. 

The plan goes wrong on Frank's end, and Tony comes back with a vengeance.

Tony goes to a club to spend time with Elvira, that pisses Frank off even more. He leaves Elvira, and notices that Gina is present at the club, spending time with a man. A corrupt cop then tries to blackmail Tony, telling him to give up money for him and his wife, who are going to spend time together in England. Tony confronts his sister and the boyfriend, and he attacks both of them, leaving Gina crying. Manny comforts her, as Tony leaves the bathroom in a furious state. 

Out of nowhere, he is attacked by two gunmen with machine guns, and he fights back with his own gun, killing both of them. He is injured afterwards, but that doesn't stop him from confronting Frank. He brings along Manny and Chi Chi, that don't hesitate to kill Frank and the corrupt cop. Frank's right hand man, Ernie, is the only one left alive, and is offered a job by Tony, that he agrees to. 

Tony goes to Elvira's bedroom, asking her to come with him, and she agrees. Tony is left on his own for a brief moment, watching a blimp fly by with the words: The World is Yours.

We get a time jump, and we get a glimpse into Tony's successful life.

Tony is now a very rich man, that is now doing his own business, along with Sosa. He marries Elvira, is oblivious to the spark between Manny and Gina, and both Tony and his men are happy with their jobs with smuggling their money into the bank. Problems arise with the bank owner, and he tells Tony that it's becoming impossible to hide that money, and he will have to raise the percentage of Tony's deal to keep their secrets hidden. 

Tony is pissed upon hearing the news, and we get another insight into Tony's new life, and it's not exactly going well. Tony has everything that he could want in life, but his paranoia and anger are getting the best of him. His marriage is unhappy with Elvira, and he is starting to question all of his henchmen's loyalties, including Manny. 

Tony is later caught in an FBI sting operation, as he is counting his illegal money with them. He is desperate to avoid going to jail, and he is offered help from Sosa, who asks Tony to assassinate a journalist, who is planning to expose a lot of powerful men who deserve to go down. Tony agrees to the deal, and he works together with Sosa's right-hand man, Alberto, to get the job done. 

He has dinner with Manny and Elvira, but it doesn't go well. Elvira tells Manny that she is tired of him, and leaves him for good. Tony goes through with the plan to kill the journalist, not aware that Elvira meant her word. 

The job does not go Tony's way, and this decision leads to the downfall of Tony's empire.

Tony, Alberto, and two of Tony's henchmen go on a car ride to follow the journalist, to blow him up along with his car. Tony and the crew get an unexpected bombshell, when they realize that the journalist is leaving with his wife and children. Alberto tells Tony that they must go along with the plan anyway, and Tony objects to that decision, refusing to murder a mother and her children. 

He kills Alberto to avoid this casualty, and he makes a phone call to Sosa, who is angry with Tony. He tells Tony that the journalist is now heavily protected by security, and that both Sosa and the other powerful men are most likely screwed. He gives out the same warning that he did to Tony when they first met, and Tony gets furious, threatening Sosa, who has already hung up on him. 

Tony heads over to his mother's house, who tells him that Gina is missing. Tony wonders why Manny is also missing, and decides to confront his friend, after he left him in charge of looking after his home. He finds Manny at an address, and realizes that both he and Gina are now together. In a fit of rage, he kills Manny in front of Gina. She holds his body in tears, telling Tony that they had secretly gotten married, and were going to surprise Tony later. 

In a state of shock, Tony has his men take Gina away, as he leaves his friend's body in the house. He takes drugs at his home, as men start to come inside of his home, killing his men, in retaliation for the deal gone wrong with Sosa. 

Gina goes inside of Tony's room, and attempts to kill him in a state of madness. She injures Tony with a bullet, and a random man kills Gina, while trying to kill Tony. He kills the man, and goes over to comfort the dead body of his sister, feeling awful for what he did to Gina and Manny. 

Tony decides to take one last stand against Sosa's men, killing anyone who stands in his way.

This is probably one of the best endings that I have seen in a gangster film. Tony loses his mind after Gina's death, and proceeds to go out in a literal blaze of glory. He takes out a weapon that is both a grenade launcher and a machine gun, and he goes ballistic with his weapon, killing anyone who stands in his way. 

He continues to kill and kill many enemies, until he is left defenseless, mocking them from his balcony, telling them that not even bullets can keep him down. He is eventually put down by Sosa's special assassin known as The Skull, and he is shot from the back with a shotgun. 

Tony falls into a pool below, and as his blood fills up the pool, we see that same motto that Tony had put on a statue, the same one that he had seen on a blimp before he became rich and powerful. 

The film ends with the statute showing the words: The World is Yours, as Sosa's men walk away from the carnage that Tony left behind. 

I thought this was one of the most powerful endings in film history. Tony was his own worst enemy. He could have been happy, but his strive for power was his own downfall, leading down a path of destruction against the people that he was supposed to love and protect. 

Even though Tony was pretty evil, at least he was willing to spare a mother and her children from death. It's crazy that his only good deed in the film is what leads to his downfall, but at least he spared innocent lives that didn't deserve to be thrown into his chaotic world. 

And damn, Tony went out with a literal bang!

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Thank you for reading!

Emy Quinn