Elliot Ness is assigned the daunting task of stopping Chicago’s ruthless crime lord, Al Capone. Elliot teams up with an experienced detective and an eager kid and together they hunt down Mr. Capone. After a series of near misses, they finally figure out a way to nab the crime boss.

UNTOUCHABLES is one of those films that I always remember liking more than I actually do while I’m watching it. It’s been a while since I’ve seen it and reviewing this Blu-Ray edition was a welcomed experience. However, when I started watching it again, I still feel the movie should have been better than it was.

The biggest strength for UNTOUCHABLES is that the film is based off famous people that we all know about. Unfortunately, that’s also the film’s biggest weakness. No other mob movie in the past 30 years has tackled a character as popular as Al Capone and so the expectations are pretty high for De Palma and crew. Overall, I’d say they pulled it off, but not without some problems.

The actors all around do a fantastic job and it truly is a star-studded event. Connery turns in one of his best performances and Costner, Garcia and De Niro give equally good turns with their characters. De Palma gives them all the room to give life to their characters and they all take advantage of it. De Niro is a bit over the top, but it’s De Niro, so it works fine.

By this point in his career, most people have realized that Brian De Palma is a very hit or miss director. Chances are good that even his biggest fans will admit he’s made some bad movies and even his biggest critics will admit he’s made some great films. I put UNTOUCHABLES towards the top of his list of best films. It has enough cool characters and enjoyable moments to make it worthwhile, but I don’t know if De Palma’s style was the right mix for this kind of movie. I think the true story of Elliot Ness and Al Capone is actually kind of boring when compared to the glamorized stories most of us are familiar with. With that in mind, I think this film could’ve used more style than De Palma gave it. Despite that minor complaint, the movie is a must-see for fans of the genre.

Video: Widescreen (2.35:1): UNTOUCHABLES has never looked better and this is really the only way to watch it. Black levels were what really stood out as I remember the movie looking faded on DVD.

Audio: English 6.1 DTS, English, French and Spanish 5.1 with English, French and Spanish subtitles: The video was great, but the audio was even better. Gun shots were spectacular and ten years ago I never thought I would see this film with DTS sound.

The Script, the Cast (18:32): Shockingly, this is about the script and the cast. It’s a neat little featurette with very few movie scenes in it. It follows the film from the producer who brought it to Paramount to the actual hiring of De Palma and the cast. It’s not long, but it’s informative. And there’s no way I could see Mel Gibson as Elliot Ness.

Production Stories (17:19): This is a neat featurette because it’s a collection of individual production stories from various people involved with the production. We get some tidbits on the vehicles, settings, and clothes. Overall, it had more insight than most featurettes.

Reinventing the Genre (14:24): This is a quick featurette about the decisions they made to make it an original gangster film. I wouldn’t go as far as to say they “reinvented” the genre, but it definitely has a Western feel to it, which seems to be what they were going for. Overall, this is a nice, different look at the film.

The Classic (5:41): De Palma and cast members talk about the film and how it was over budget and the challenges they faced and how much they love the film. Nothing mind blowing here, but a nice recap on a good film.

The Men (5:26): This was a very quick promo piece for the film that was made when the film first came out. It’s a nice bit of nostalgia, but other than that it has no worth. I’d save this for true fans of the film.

There is also a Trailer

UNTOUCHABLES is definitely a good movie, but it’s not great. The pacing was a little slow and a little off for this type of film and there were a few moments that could have been left out. However, I still make it a recommend and on this Blu-Ray version, it has never looked better.