Is Al Pacino REALLY Such a Great Actor?

The answer to this question is simple. Of course he is, isn't he? We have all seen him in Godfather Parts I and II, Scarface, Serpico, Scent of a Woman... the list is seemingly endless. He has kudos, Oscar wins and most importantly of all: respect. How dare we even question this man's genius? He sits amongst Hollywood Greats with DeNiro, DiCaprio and Depp. 

There is one thing that troubles me though. Look at his award winning roles such as Michael Corleone and Frank Serpico... all of which have psychopathic tendencies. In these roles he provides an absolute tour de force. Early on in his career he managed to master the brooding, fear inflicting looks, enforcing murderous decisions in the Godfather II. In Serpico, he allows his passion to build throughout the film, and is completely convincing as the paranoid cop exposing a bent police force. In Dog Day Afternoon he plays anxiety and nervousness off to a tee in the botched bank robbery. Has anyone played these types of role any better than this? I doubt it. 

Such a promising start, yet after these early roles we rarely see any stand alone brilliance again. As the drug dealing Tony Montana in Scarface he gives us angst and anger, but completely overhams it. Even in his Oscar winning performance as Frank Slade in Scent of a Woman he simply came across as a horrible human being that no body would ever give the time of day to, let alone go along with his ridiculous schemes. Even when he tries to do a different style of acting, such as Heat and Carlito's Way, he does seem dull, almost as if he is trying a little to hard to prove he has more than one string to his bow. The less said about Devil's Advocate the better, trumped only in the dullard stakes by Mr Dullsville himself-Keanu Reeves.

Don't misunderstand me here, I love Al Pacino, but only in his early films where he established a name as a great actor. Latterly it seems as if he is just trotting this reputation out every time he acts. This man is great at being the psycho, but this only goes so far. Watch the Godfather I an II, Serpico and Dog Day Afternoon, completely erase the rest from your memory. Then he would be the greatest actor ever! However, in no way can he hold a candle to Johnny Depp, who has played every type of character conceivable, from the introverted Edward Scissorhands to the sumptuous Captain Jack Sparrow. Now there's a real actor. Sorry Al.