Review of Dick Tracy (1990) by Brody M — 18 Jan 2011

Much like the original movie serials, the 1990 version of Dick Tracy finely treads the line between kid's comic book film and gritty adult gangster film.

Warren Beatty doesn't seem to take the movie as seriously as his roles in Reds or Bonnie and Clyde, but he doesn't need to. The stylistic costume design and set decoration set the style as if the film were a live-action comic book, years before CGI could make the craft far easier, but not always as effective.

Madonna's performance in the film is the closest we're going to get to a live-action version of Jessica Rabbit, but the performance I enjoyed the most was Al Pacino. I mean, that's Michael Corleone and Tony Montana in this movie. Pacino clearly understands how to take a role as a mobster seriously, and he's behaving like a cartoon character; but you know what? I had too much fun with his performance to care. I was so happy with the way Pacino acted, that I wouldn't be surprised if his character was one of the Looney Tunes that got lost on the journey from pen to paper.

Dick Tracy is certainly a bizarre film, with a good creative effort and obvious camp. It has aged, but is it unacceptable in an age where most comic book movies are modeled after the dark period of the 1980s? Well, I can't go that far. For the times that you love the dark, edgy Batman of the Tim Burton movies, the Christopher Nolan movies, and the animated series; there are others where you just want to bask in the glorious camp of the Adam West and Burt Ward TV show. There is also this idea that basing a movie off a comic book is still pretty silly in and of itself. And that's reason enough to call this a very entertaining film.

Now, for my next review, I'm going to do a revision. I'm going to see how I've grown in watching movies and writing about them by taking a second look at a comic-book movie I never thought I'd put in my DVD player again...