'Cape Fear' Review: De Niro gives his creepiest performance to date in this 90's classic!

🌟 Cape Fear 🌟 Review 🌟 8.6/10

Directed by Martin Scorsese

Starring: Robert De Niro, Nick Nolte, Jessica Lange, and Juliette Lewis

This brutal, violent and suspenseful thriller combines a scorching performance by Robert De Niro, sumptuous location photography, and a powerful script that raises disturbing questions about the already questionable
religion, sex, and class distinctions in our so-called classless society.

At first glance Max Cady seems to be just another sadistic creep, a rapist and convict out to torment and humiliate a nice, dysfunctional upper-middle class family. But gradually it becomes apparent that things are not what they seem. The wholesome, "superior" middle class family is rotten with corruption, while the vicious, "psychotic" ex-con is a man of extraordinary courage, intelligence, and spiritual strength. Even his most horrible acts of violence (to a certain extent) are connected to the corrupt and self-serving behavior of his "betters." What makes this movie work so well is that director Martin Scorsese breaks away from his usual mean street (Mafioso) milieu and changes it up a little, keeping it unpredictable. Here the great director remains an impartial observer of criminal behavior, rather than a sentimental apologist for political violence.

Max Cady is pure evil, but he speaks the truth about the evil of allowing class distinctions to flourish in a so-called "democracy." For a guy that's psycho, he sure did speak alot of sense. Robert De Niro's most harrowing performance to date, he really scared the bejeebers out of me!