A world-famous film critic recently published an article evaluating Al Pacino’s ferocious performance as Tony Montana in “Scarface.” He goes to great length commending Pacino’s over-the-top acting as part the Tony Montana persona: This is a man who lives by his bluff, so why would he be a man anything short of outrageous?

It seems he’s trying to convince himself he liked the movie. He should have just quit yakking and said “Scarface” is a milestone in film because, after all, it is.

“Scarface” is also one of the great comedies of a generation. But it goes without saying — there is more to it than that.

This film is an exercise of excessiveness: Everything down to the width of Pacino’s leisure suit lapels reeks of the grand scale in “Scarface.” The gory violence, the leopard-covered seats of Tony’s Cadillac, the thinly-veiled take on the Reaganesque view of capitalism, the hairstyles and perhaps most predominantly the use of the “f-word” (a record at the time of release) all feed the film’s credo of excessiveness.

It’s as if Brian De Palma’s direction and Oliver Stone’s script defy critics and audiences to label it a bad film. It seems that, according to these filmmakers, the people who don’t get it are not in on the joke.

“Scarface” was recently released on an Anniversary Edition DVD. This provides the sentiment to throw out your old, inferior edition of this film for the new, improved one. In some ways, it is better, but in more ways, it’s not.

The biggest improvement for this DVD is the remastered picture, which has also been enhanced for widescreen televisions. The previous edition was a non-anamorphic picture that looked washed out and grainy. “Scarface” still looks dated and cheap, almost as if it was shot on video and dubbed to a digital format, but nevertheless, the picture and sound are both major improvements.

A huge detraction from the features of this DVD is the absence of a commentary track. De Palma usually pops up in interviews on most of the releases of his DVDs, but he rarely comments on his own films. This is not so much a surprise but a disappointment considering the film’s screenwriter, Oliver Stone, provides audio commentaries on nearly every DVD release of his films.

Yet another disappointment are the three featurettes on the making-of, acting and rebirth of “Scarface.” These three mini-documentaries are re-bakes of the original DVD edition adding nothing new, but providing a forum for many of the filmmakers to congratulate themselves.

There are also deleted scenes and another featurette on the effect of “Scarface” on the world of rap music, providing interviews by many artists in the industry, more or less summing up why everybody on MTV’s “Cribs” shows off their copy of this film.

If you’re willing to cough up the difference, the box set of “Scarface” contains the best added perk of them all: The superior 1932 version of “Scarface” directed by Howard Hawks. To label it as superior is almost an unfounded statement: The films are so different in both story and scope, it is only possible to base an evaluation on their share of the same genre.