Scarface: Collectors Edition Cigar Box - Triple Play (3 Discs) (Blu-ray)

About seven years ago I became a huge fan of 'Scarface'. A friend of mine had it on VHS, and upon my first viewing of the film, I was so impressed that I rushed right out to get it for myself. Years later, a Limited Edition DVD was released, and me and that same friend went out on release day to purchase it.

That DVD was watched a hell of a lot, and it was lent around quite a bit too, to the point that the cardboard sleeve got a bit ruined, and the disc became scratched. So, again, I re-purchased the film.

I slowly started buying tons of Scarface merchandise, including Tony Montana figures, and a Limited Edition Cadillac Model from Scarface.

But in recent years, my interest in Scarface has dropped. Now, the film is still just as good as it has always been. I saw the film again a few weeks ago and continued to love it just as I used too, but there has been a problem with the film lately.

People have responded to the film in the wrong way; all these so-called "gangsters" these, street-thugs who have seen the film one too many times, and believe that the moral behind the film was to be as violent, and drug-induced as possible.

That is NOT the moral of the film.

But they have stomped upon my love for this film. So, I've decided to leave off watching the film, and ignore these people, so that upon watchign Scarface again, on Blu-Ray, and getting this Collectors Edition Cigar Box, I will enjoy it as I once did.

(P.S. I decided not to stereotypically throw in all the famous quotes from the film in this review, because frankly...it's been done to death)

:)

When i received this Collectors Item i was really amazed. It has a lot of special features that makes this a must-have for any true Scarface-fanboy.

I would recommend this to anyone that wants the little extra in their movie collection, as this stands out as an remarkable item in my Blu-Ray collection.

PS: The box is approx. 5 inch wider and longer than an ordinary Blu-Ray disc. In other words, this will fit in an ordinary movie-rack and is not quite as big as the picture would assume.

5 out of 5, anytime.

Obviously you can see my nickname of T Montana and will realise that I will not have much if anything to say which is negative for Scarface. The film maybe, the transfer is another issue.

Al Pacino gives a tour de force performance as Cuban immigrant Tony Montana. I liken his character in many ways to Jo Pesci's Tommy from Goodfellas, a character who despite his slight frame is larger than life and you never know what will happen next. Volatile to say the least, it's as if he suffers from the Napoleon complex.

Pacino insisted that the Hispanic members of the crew spoke to him in Spanish and he kept the accent up all the way through the production even off camera. His performance is staggering and his character appears in every scene throughout the entire movie.

Everything about Scarface is OTT, the soundtrack, colours, characters, violence, drugs, language, everything and this is why Tony Montana never appears out of place with his larger than life persona.

Extremely popular among real life drug barons and would-be gangsters largely due to the main characters kick ass attitude and all out ballsy outlook on life.

This is a fantastic movie which is endlessly quotable and is easily Brian De Palma's best work, if seeing for the first time..............brace yourself!

The transfer.........................

Universal have granted this film with a VC-1 encoded, 2.35:1 framed, 1080p transfer onto a 50GB Blu-ray disc of very inconsistent appearance. What a shame!

Not sure where to start really it's so all over the place. When it's good it's really good but when it's bad it's really bad.

Firstly this is an improvement over the previous DVD releases especially colour saturation. The reds are extremely vibrant and strong. Skin tones do appear accurate and lifelike. Detail is another marked improvement especially on foreground objects and fabrics.

The sound is a marked improvement as well although I found the gun sounds in the final scene to be strange.

The issues range from edge enhancement which has been applied liberally, this results in the haloing of both people and objects. DNR which has been applied for the grain which results in loss of detail. Crush is another problem, with serious delineation issues apparent in almost every dark scene, this means that we have no definition between objects, dark hair and clothing when combined with night skies just seem to mould into one black blob.

The grain is heavy with this movie which must be attributed to the film stock used, I'm not sure whether this was Brian De Palma's intended appearance but with the majority of Blu-ray viewers wanting a clear image Universal have attempted to reduce it (DNR) but this has impacted on the detail in a number of scenes and resulted in the image appearing washed out in places.

Overall like I've said it is the best it's ever looked and is worth the upgrade, serious fans will forgive its shortcomings, just not so sure about the casual viewer.

Film 5/5 Transfer 2.5/5

This movie needs a complete restoration and digital reworking. Give it to the Lowry Digital team.

Obviously you can see my nickname of T Montana and will realise that I will not have much if anything to say which is negative for Scarface. The film maybe, the transfer is another issue.

Al Pacino gives a tour de force performance as Cuban immigrant Tony Montana. I liken his character in many ways to Jo Pesci's Tommy from Goodfellas, a character who despite his slight frame is larger than life and you never know what will happen next. Volatile to say the least, it's as if he suffers from the Napoleon complex.

Pacino insisted that the Hispanic members of the crew spoke to him in Spanish and he kept the accent up all the way through the production even off camera. His performance is staggering and his character appears in every scene throughout the entire movie.

Everything about Scarface is OTT, the soundtrack, colours, characters, violence, drugs, language, everything and this is why Tony Montana never appears out of place with his larger than life persona.

Extremely popular among real life drug barons and would-be gangsters largely due to the main characters kick ass attitude and all out ballsy outlook on life.

This is a fantastic movie which is endlessly quotable and is easily Brian De Palma's best work, if seeing for the first time..............brace yourself!

The transfer.........................

Universal have granted this film with a VC-1 encoded, 2.35:1 framed, 1080p transfer onto a 50GB Blu-ray disc of very inconsistent appearance. What a shame!

Not sure where to start really it's so all over the place. When it's good it's really good but when it's bad it's really bad.

Firstly this is an improvement over the previous DVD releases especially colour saturation. The reds are extremely vibrant and strong. Skin tones do appear accurate and lifelike. Detail is another marked improvement especially on foreground objects and fabrics.

The sound is a marked improvement as well although I found the gun sounds in the final scene to be strange.

The issues range from edge enhancement which has been applied liberally, this results in the haloing of both people and objects. DNR which has been applied for the grain which results in loss of detail. Crush is another problem, with serious delineation issues apparent in almost every dark scene, this means that we have no definition between objects, dark hair and clothing when combined with night skies just seem to mould into one black blob.

The grain is heavy with this movie which must be attributed to the film stock used, I'm not sure whether this was Brian De Palma's intended appearance but with the majority of Blu-ray viewers wanting a clear image Universal have attempted to reduce it (DNR) but this has impacted on the detail in a number of scenes and resulted in the image appearing washed out in places.

Overall like I've said it is the best it's ever looked and is worth the upgrade, serious fans will forgive its shortcomings, just not so sure about the casual viewer.

Film 5/5 Transfer 2.5/5

This movie needs a complete restoration and digital reworking. Give it to the Lowry Digital team.

A collectors edition definitely worthy of the De Palma classic. The cigar case is an excellent piece of memorabilia well worth the money for any collector or Scarface fan. The steel book case itself is amazing, and better looking than most others around at the moment, then we have the re-master itself. In a word it is stunning, nothing less. Easily one of the best Collectors editions available at the moment considering it was 18.99.