But outside of those scenes and techniques, the whole movie is awkward. Under a "Chinatown" and "L.A. Confidential"-style framework, there is no excavation of the gloomy and dangerous city. The soundtrack carelessly intervenes and even dictates the narrative, with its high-spirited parts as if from a galloping Western, frivolously announcing victory at every conceivable juncture. Sean Connery's character of Lian Po is not in harmony with this atmosphere. His death and the irony hidden in Prohibition have the possibility to use the theme, but the film still focuses on promoting the story line of good people catching bad people after being briefly involved. The shaping of each character is simplified, and only the character evolution of the protagonist can be traced.
Unselfish is based on fiction, and fiction is based on real history, and the richness of the story makes it entirely possible to make an important film. But the director's various choices have made it stay at the level of police and gangster films, and under the time frame of decades, police and gangster films have little vitality.
View more about The Untouchables reviews
