Don't get me wrong, I really enjoyed Dick Tracy and I think it's a wonderful movie. But, while Batman embraced the Noir atmosphere of the Batman comics of the time, Dick Tracy couldn't decide whether it was going to be ridiculous, which there are more than a few scenes that are completely ridiculous, or it was going to fully embrace the more serious undertones that the movie had. For example, for the entire movie, Tracy is after Big Boy Caprice, the head of the Mob in whatever city the movie is set in, but we're never told why, aside from he's the head of organized crime. There's no personal connection between Tracy and Big Boy like there is between Batman and the Joker in Batman. There doesn't always have to be a personal connection between the hero and the villain, and I certainly don't want that in EVERY comic book based movie that gets made, but when there isn't a whole lot to the hero, that personal connection helps to connect me to the character I'm following in a movie. Especially in a movie that is as weird as this one is in terms of how the villains look and the weird way the movie doesn't seem to have any rules for the universe it's setting up.
I love the cast in this movie. Warren Beatty plays a great Dick Tracy. Though he really doesn't do a whole lot in the movie because he was also directing it. This is the first movie I've ever seen Al Pacino in as I've never seen The Godfather or any of the other movies he's been in. He was so over the top as Big Boy that his performance kind of reminded me of Mel Brooks as President Skroob in Spaceballs. In fact there are a couple of scenes where Pacino is giving dialogue and his voice sounds almost exactly like Brooks. I also love Glenne Headly as Tracy's girlfriend, Tess Trueheart, I felt for her quite a bit in this movie when she was feeling like Tracy cared more for his job than he did for her. At the same time she does love him, and he loves her, though he has difficulty expressing his feelings to her, much like the way Cliff Secord had trouble expressing his feelings towards Jenny Blake in The Rocketeer.
The only cast member and character that I have a huge problem with in this movie is Madonna as Breathless Mahoney. I'm not a huge Madonna fan, though I certainly grew up listening to some of her songs on the radio and I just feel like her acting is atrocious in this movie. And it certainly doesn't help that she tries to seduce Tracy every time they're on screen together. I felt more sympathy for Jessica Rabbit in Who Framed Roger Rabbit than I did for Breathless Mahoney in this movie. I will say that there's a turn with Madonna's character at the end of the movie that I didn't see coming. I won't spoil what that turn is for those of you who haven't seen the movie before, but for those who have, you know what I'm talking about. It's a pretty great reveal that's for sure.
Last night was my first time watching Dick Tracy though up until I watched it I was pretty sure I'd seen the movie before. But it turns out I hadn't though it simply felt like I had as the movie was pretty heavily marketed back then in the same way Batman had been marketed the year before and I remember seeing the trailer for the movie at the beginning of the VHS release for Honey, I Shrunk the Kids. Plus I knew about the movie since my grandparents had it on VHS, which is the copy I now own, and from Captain Logan's review of it on Superhero Rewind. This was just my first time watching it for myself.
Final Thoughts and Rating: Overall I think Dick Tracy is a pretty good movie. I don't like it as much as I do The Rocketeer, but it's still a solid movie. I'm more of a Sci-Fi person than I am a crime fiction person, so this movie didn't tickle my fancy quite as much as The Rocketeer did. I do wish that they'd developed the character of Dick Tracy a little bit more in terms of what he wants and why he's after Big Boy specifically. There's a history there that just isn't explored in the movie. It's been a long time since I read any of the original comic strips, so I don't remember if that history is explored there at all or not, but it's definitely lacking here. The cast is great, aside from Madonna, and it was really weird seeing Dick Van Dyke in a more serious role than what I'm used to seeing him in. And while the uneven tone, the untapped potential of this movie's world, and Madonna detracted from the movie for me, I'm going to give it an 8/10 stars because the rest of the cast is awesome and there is definitely potential for exploring the world of Dick Tracy in film.
IMDB: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0099422/?ref_=nv_sr_srsg_0
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