Young Treasury Agent Eliot Ness arrives in Chicago and is determined to take down Al Capone, but it's not going to be easy because Capone has the police in his pocket. Ness meets Jim Malone, a veteran patrolman and probably the most honorable one on the force. He asks Malone to help him get Capone, but Malone warns him that if he goes after Capone, he is going to war.
Ultimately my feeling is that for De Palma, this movie is first and foremost an exercise in style, and a chance to traffic in the aesthetics and tropes of Old Hollywood gangster movies. […] Do I think De Palma really cares about how the "untouchable" Ness gradually breaks every law and principle he once swore to uphold in his pursuit of Capone? Dear reader, I do not. I think there's a hollowness at this movie's core.
