Daniel S
This movie failed to earn lasting attention after the 1990 release, despite strong marketing and solid production values. Audience response dropped fast even though performance quality stayed above full failure status. Viewers receive a bold and flashy experience with clear strengths and visible weaknesses.
The story follows Dick Tracy against a group of crime figures led by Big Boy Caprice, all aiming for control of the city and elimination of Tracy. Breathless Mahoney shows strong romantic focus on Tracy, while the character Blank displays shifting loyalty. The narrative stays simple and mirrors comic strip structure and pacing without added complexity.
Visual design stands as the strongest element. Production design and set construction earned Academy Awards, including Best Art Direction and Best Song. Scenes present bright primary colors and panel style composition. Viewers focus on visual execution instead of narrative depth due to consistent style choices.
Overcrowding of villains weakens pacing and reduces impact. Warren Beatty delivers a restrained performance that limits emotional engagement. Madonna contributes strong musical sequences, though acting range lacks consistency. Heavy prosthetic makeup restricts facial movement across supporting roles, which flattens delivery.
Positive aspects remain clear. Danny Elfman provides a score that matches the exaggerated tone. Al Pacino embraces an extreme performance style as Big Boy Caprice, which adds energy and humor. Glenne Headly offers emotional grounding as Tess Trueheart, and original songs strengthen overall presentation.
The adaptation tones down violence from source material, resulting in lighter action and minimal on screen blood. This choice targets broader age groups and increases accessibility for modern audiences seeking stylized retro cinema.
This film deserves renewed viewing for design execution and distinct tone. Audiences interested in graphic comic inspired visuals and structured simplicity will find consistent value.
Rated 3.5/5 Stars •
Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars
11/25/25
Full Review
Mitch B
Colorful and vibrant and fun. Warren Beatty and the rest of the cast shine in this stellar film.
Rated 5/5 Stars •
Rated 5 out of 5 stars
07/01/25
Full Review
Trevor M
Dick Tracy kicks off with absurdly over-the-top headlines about the state of crime in the city — headlines like "Gang Members Beat Up Old People in the Street" set the tone for the film's mix of comic exaggeration and noir homage. From the very beginning, the film dives headfirst into its stylized world, introducing us to a rogues' gallery of gangsters decked out in some of the most outrageous makeup and prosthetics ever put to screen. Every villain is hideous, grotesquely overweight, and sports a unique deformity, straight out of a cartoonish nightmare.
The action starts immediately with a 1940s-style car crashing through a wall into a room full of gangsters, sending money flying and tommy guns blazing. The cops who follow speak in aggressively exaggerated noir dialects — one even sounds like Bugs Bunny (sadly, not named Buggsy). Another shouts, “Them coppers’ll never take me alive!” like something pulled from a Saturday morning cartoon.
The visual style is one of the film’s strongest elements. The city bursts with bold, primary colors — especially reds, greens, and yellows — that dominate cars, buildings, costumes, and even interior lighting. These color splashes shift scene to scene, often disconnected from realism, and may subtly reflect the emotions or themes at play, though it's hard to pin them down precisely. The seamless transitions between live-action, matte paintings, and back again are genuinely impressive, creating a vibrant comic-strip world that feels both artificial and alive.
In many ways, Dick Tracy feels like the most Gotham-esque movie ever made — just without Batman. It has the stylized violence and melodrama of Tim Burton's Batman films, but also occasionally veers into the campiness of the 1960s Adam West series. At one point, Dick Tracy might as well be Batman, crashing through skylights and doling out justice with his fists.
Speaking of fists, there’s a standout moment where Tracy gets into a knock-down brawl in a tiny shack, which rocks violently with each punch — a hilarious, almost Looney Tunes-level visual gag. The film is full of such moments, balancing slapstick with noir cool.
The villains are as bizarre as their names: Lips, Itchy, Big Boy, Prune Face, Mocha, Mumbles… the list goes on. It feels like someone took a Bugs Bunny cartoon and dropped it into a gangster movie. Mumbles, in particular, stands out — his interrogation scene is a comedic highlight, not least because the stenographer's confused expression speaks for us all. It’s only made funnier by the fact that he’s inexplicably not wearing pants, and the water fountain he drinks from... let's just say the placement of the spout is unfortunate. The gag even pays off later in a way that makes the weirdness worth it.
The casting is completely bonkers in the best way. Al Pacino goes full comic caricature, almost parodying his Godfather persona with nonstop manic monologues. His energy is so chaotic that it becomes impossible to look away. Madonna, meanwhile, brings a sultry, over-the-top presence as Breathless Mahoney — constantly oozing sex appeal in a way that’s hilariously aggressive and consistently fun to watch. Despite the PG rating, the film pushes boundaries, including a scene with clear upper nudity from Madonna herself, adding yet another layer to its fever-dream logic.
One especially memorable visual features a group of mobsters gathered around a blood-red glossy table, surrounded by matching walls and green-tinted nighttime windows — a bold visual nod to the film’s opening line about streets “bathed in blood.” It’s a striking example of the production design’s commitment to mood through color.
Dick Tracy’s relationship with Tess follows classic noir tropes: emotionally repressed, full of miscommunication, and frustratingly indirect. There’s a particularly awkward tension when Tracy interacts with Breathless — he doesn’t reject her advances so much as freeze up, staring into the void while she takes the lead. The film ends with a fitting character beat: Tracy stumbles awkwardly through a half-hearted proposal, eventually just tossing Tess a ring as he leaves the diner — romance, noir-style.
The final act of the film is easily its strongest. Pacino’s Big Boy is accused of kidnapping, and instead of clearing his name, he doubles down by actually kidnapping the victim. What follows is a rapid-fire series of unhinged monologues, wild schemes, and escalating absurdity that becomes a comedic tour-de-force. If the entire movie had leaned into this tone, it might’ve been a true masterpiece of comic chaos.
In the end, Dick Tracy isn’t exactly a good movie in the traditional sense. Its plot is thin, the tone swings wildly, and the performances range from cartoonish to operatic. But it’s a visually dazzling, oddly compelling spectacle that feels like it was an absolute blast to make. Flawed? Absolutely. Fun? Without a doubt.
Rated 3.5/5 Stars •
Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars
06/29/25
Full Review
Anderson O
Pulpy, stylish, dapper, and old fashioned 1930’s in a good way, Dick Tracy crime mystery sleuth ages very well after 35 years. With a star studded and timeless cast, great music and theme, colorful costumes, settings, and characters, Dick Tracy was one of a kind in the year of it’s release with direction of Warren Beauty. Madonna’s breathlessly Mahoney and Al Pacino’a Big Boy Caprice Nearly steal this movie.
Rated 3.5/5 Stars •
Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars
06/10/25
Full Review
Daniel C. M
Although the movie never manages to reach it's full potential in both action and story, Dick Tracy is nevertheless a movie made with great passion to it's source material and it shows, with a gorgeous and masterful art direction alongside great characters, performances and a overrall great commitment to the autenthic feel of a 30s pulpy comic.
Rated 4/5 Stars •
Rated 4 out of 5 stars
05/18/25
Full Review
Rami A
Something about this picture clicked when watching this. Not sure if it's the writing, the acting, the music, the cinematography, the set design or the pacing, but whatever it is, the movie is amazing. Sometimes, even the most underrated and forgotten films turn out to be gems.
Rated 5/5 Stars •
Rated 5 out of 5 stars
05/16/25
Full Review
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