Cinema Junkie by Beth Accomando

Poster, The Departed

For his latest film, Martin Scorsese not only abandons the mean streets of New York for Beantown but he also turns to a Hong Kong popular crime thriller for source material. The result is The Departed (opening October 6 throughout San Diego). The film boasts Brad Pitt as one of its producers and Leonardo DiCaprio, Matt Damon, Jack Nicholson and Mark Wahlberg as stars.

There was a time when Martin Scorsese topped my list of filmmakers that I most wanted to interview. Films such as Mean Streets, Taxi Driver, Raging Bull, King of Comedy and New York, New York bristled with a passion and originality that put him at the forefront of filmmakers both in the U.S. and abroad. But in recent years the extraordinarily gifted filmmaker and passionate film buff has been making movies that are not up to the level of his earlier works. You have to go back to the 90s and films such as Goodfellas and Casino to find those creative fires burning brightly.

Martin Scorseses most recent feature outings have come across as blatant attempts to court Hollywood and win an Oscar (which he apparently wants), and that has made him less interesting as a filmmaker. For Gangs of New York he went for proven box office stars (Leonardo DiCaprio and Cameron Diaz) rather than actors better suited to the roles, and for The Aviator he tried to deliver a celebrity biopic that Hollywood could embrace. Both films had elements that personally resonated for him but neither had the flawless craft and brash energy of his earlier works.

With The Departed , Scorsese finds a little of his old fire. He trades in the Big Apple for South Boston where he looks to a war between the Massachusetts State Police and the mob. The police are obsessed with taking down the citys mostly Irish mob and decide that the best way to bring it down is from the top. So they decide to plant a mole inside the crime organization of kingpin Frank Costello (Jack Nicholson). But that kind of undercover work requires a very special kind of cop and Billy Costigan (Leonardo DiCaprio) looks like the perfect candidate. He even has some family members with mob connections. His superior Captain Queenan (Martin Sheen) tells him that hell have to do some time in jail in order to gain credibility on the street. Plus, to insure secrecy only Queenan and one other cop (Mark Wahlberg) in the department will know hes working undercover.

So while Costigan infiltrates the mob in order to bring it down, another young cop, Colin Sullivan (Matt Damon), is recruited as a mole for the mob. Sullivan is a slick, fast-rising trooper whose first allegiance is to Costello. Each man must maintain a double life, hiding his true identity from those he works with. But both men are at constant risk of being exposed, and eventually both the cops and the mob realize theres a traitor in their midst.

Jack Nicholson and Leonardo DiCaprio in The Departed

The Departed opens with the same stylish bravado that made films such as Goodfellas so much fun to watch. As The Rolling Stones Gimme Shelter plays, Scorseses camera tracks the movements of Frank Costello (whos kept in the shadows out of both a sense of style and a need to mask the age of Nicholson who is supposed to be considerably younger in these opening scenes). Costello struts about giving out advice, words of wisdom and some brutal lessons in mob rule. Hes seductive to kids like Colin Sullivan and he knows it. Thats how he wins new recruits. When he puts money in little Colins hand and sends the boy home with a bag of groceries, he knows hes made a wise investment in the future. In these early scenes, Scorsese feels like hes back in his element strutting with the same confidence as Costello. But as the story turns more to the two young men leading double lives, Scorseses loses some of that fine sense of control and delivers a crime thriller that lacks his personal signature.

The Departed is based on the highly successful 2002 Hong Kong crime thriller called Infernal Affairs , which starred Tony Leung and Andy Lau, and was directed by Andrew Lau and Alan Mak. The film did so well in Asia that it spawned a prequel and a sequel. Yet it only received a minimal release in the U.S. The Departeds screenwriter William Monahan says that he made an effort NOT to see Infernal Affairs , and instead worked from a translation of the Chinese script. In the press notes, Scorsese insists that his film is not a remake of the Hong Kong film. Well I dont know how he defines a remake but anyone who saw Infernal Affairs might think differently because in addition to the basic storyline thats lifted for The Departed there are other elements taken directly from the Hong Kong originalbits of business involving cell phones, elevators, a meet in a porn theater, rooftop encounters and more. Monahan and Scorsese lift these elements and tweak them yet they dont make them better or fully their own.

Monahan hails from Boston, which explains why he wanted to set the story their. But Scorsese never connects to the city the way he has with his home turf of New York. Similarly, we are constantly being reminded of the Irishness of the characters and the characteristics of being Irish yet a cultural flavor never flows through the film the way being Italian in New York came through in Scorseses early films. Plus, Damon and DiCaprio never sell me on their ethnicity. In fact DiCaprio and Nicholson have a little trouble selling me on the fact that theyre supposed to be from Boston. All this leads me to saying something that I never thought Id say: when it comes to this particular story. Scorseses been outdone by his Hong Kong counterparts. Scorseses The Departed doesnt improve in any way on Infernal Affairs , which served up a return to stylish Hong Kong action. Quit simply, Infernal Affairs delivered the goods, while The Departed just makes a partial shipment.

Mark Wahlberg and Matt Damon in The Departed

Scorseses films have often been obsessed with notions of guilt and redemption, and this story of The Departed would seem to offer fertile ground to further explore these ideas. But Monahans script doesnt provide Scorsese with that kind of material. What Monahan is good at is writing some crackling dialogue (Mark Wahlbergs acid tongued cop gets most of the best lines with Jack coming in a close second). But hes less skilled at creating suspense and a narrative arc. We dont feel the mounting tension as sharply as we should, or the tragic irony of how the lives of these two young men play out. In the press materials, Monahan states my adaptation, thematically, is all about the engine of tragedy that is started when people depart from what they really should be doing with their lives. But that doesnt really come through.

Although it may not be fair to keep comparing The Departed to Infernal Affairs , doing a remake (and sorry Marty but your film is a remake) invites such comparisons. The original film set up the parallel lives of these two characters more efficiently and with more sly connections. And from very early on we felt a high level of tension as each tried to maintain his mole status. As actors, Leonardo DiCaprio and Matt Damon simply cant hold a candle to Tony Leung and Andy Lau. Leung is an especially gifted actor with eyes that reveal far more than dialogue ever could and he endowed Infernal Affairs with a true sense of the tragic. Unlike DiCaprios Costigan, who seems to crack up early on and who never seems to provide any helpful tips to his superiors, Leungs character cracks up after being undercover fro 10 years and after actually providing information that led to confiscating drugs. The tragedy in their case was from how notions of honor and loyalty played out. Plus theres a female psychiatrist in both films but shes far more interesting and less clichd in Infernal Affairs. In The Departed, she becomes part of a love triangle with the two men that plays out with conventional morality and emotions.

The Departed (rated R for violence and language) returns Scorsese to better form and he delivers his best film in years. Yet if this were the first film he had made, it never would have generated the level of excitement that Mean Streets did. Although I would never want to restrict Scorsese to particular material, he might benefit from heading back to New York and actors like DeNiro and Keitel to tell a story thats closer to home to renew his creative energy. Or maybe he should focus on documentaries because his best work recently has been the non-fiction TV projects about film history and Bob Dylan. So please Marty, forget about winning an Oscar (something that has eluded some of our greatest filmmakers), turn your back on Hollywood, and lets see what you can really do. If the senior citizens of the French New Wave can still crank out fresh and vital new work, so too should our aging American New Wave directors.

Companion viewing: Infernal Affairs (you can also sample II and III ), John Woos Hard-Boiled, Goodfellas PJ Pesce
October 24, 2006 at 04:22 AM
Quite a smart, incisive review. Very impressive, right on. -----

Beth Accomando
November 04, 2006 at 03:49 AM
Thanks for posting your comments. I especially enjoy the positive ones! Please make an effort to see the Hong Kong film Infernal Affairs and let me know if you liked it better. Also go watch Mean Streets--which I did after seeing The Deaparted--it's amazing to see how fresh and energized his filmmaking was back then. Hopefully he can tap back into that energy and deliver another great movie.

Carlos
November 09, 2006 at 03:25 AM
i agree with your review...and well put it was too....i enjoyed the departed alot but simply cannot put it in my thoughts as a 'great' film, as everyone seems to be calling it, because it is simply a rather good remake....and a pretty faithfull one at that, the last 2/3rds of the movie (bar the very last sceen)pan out almost exactly the same as I.A. ....my girlfriend, who saw the departed recently and said it was the best film she'd seen all year, was quite upset when she watched infernal affairs because she thought it (departed) was a strikingly original an ingenious story..and her opinions of it where tarred by realising it wasnt....but i guess thats what marty wants us all to think!

Beth Accomando
November 11, 2006 at 05:19 PM
Carlos, thanks for your comments. I'm glad you had a chance to see Infernal Affairs for comparison. In case you're interested, there was a prequel (Infernal Affairs 2) and a sort of sequel (Infernal Affairs 3). Neither was as good as the original but they each had merits. Thanks again for posting.

HYC
February 04, 2007 at 08:40 PM
I only just discovered this blog so this comment comes a little late. Thank you for your insightful review - it hits every sentiment I have about The Departed. I saw Infernal Affairs even before I saw The Departed and agree the latter pales in comparison to the original. If Infernal Affairs did not win an Oscar for best foreign film - it was submitted for consideration in 2003 - why should The Departed win anything? It's not even original.

sillykid
February 19, 2007 at 01:14 AM
I recently saw The Departed and I must say I was quite disappointed. I saw the original film, Infernal Affairs..and The Departed does not even compared to it. It is a direct remake of IA and I was quite disappointed with the way it was remade esp towards the end. There was no sentimental feelings that it was a tragic story esp towards the end when everyone was just shooting at each other.. it was quite silly.. I totally agree with HYC.. if inferanl affair didnt' win for best foreign film..why should The departed win it esp since it didnt do a good job with the remake.. i can't emphasize how disppaointed i am with this film..i thought Scorsese was going ot make this film "his own" ..but it was a direct copy.. thumb down for me..

Novak
March 11, 2007 at 11:19 AM
Brilliant review!! But I only feel a little bit better after reading it. I'm tired of Hollywood/American filmmakers remaking and even stealing ideas from great Asian films and then winning Oscars and awards for them. Here are Asian remakes I know of, Hollywood Asia The departed - Infernal Affairs The Grudge - Ju-on: The Grudge The Ring - "Ringu" The Ring And now there is talk of Korean film OldBoy (Park Chan-Wook) being remade (ruined) by Hollywood. Why would anyone in America want to remake a perfectly great film? Here are some ideas why: 1. Americans are to stupid to read subtitles. 2. They think they can do it better. 3. They can't think of anything original anymore. 4. Its easy for America to take an Asian film, remake it, and make quick and easy money from it.

Sarah
April 03, 2007 at 12:36 AM
I just saw Infernal Affairs and I'll have to say IA was much better than the Departed. IA has much more in terms of psychological struggles of the 2 leads. The acting in IA is 10 times better. I also strongly recommend Infernal Affairs II. It's not fast-paced like IA 1, but if anyone is into really awesome acting, you won't be disappointed.

tyler
April 15, 2007 at 12:58 AM
i did not agree with you comments at all; to elaborate... I saw ia as well and i agreee with was an excellent movie. however in no way does it hold its own against the departed. it is true that the departed is a remake however i do not believe that that should taboo the movie. to think of the movie as a seperate entity is the only way to truly review the movie. to start off, the editing is this movie could possibly be its strongest link. thelma s. hit it right on with her editing. it is fast paced and truly helps tell the story. she is the best supplment to scorseses outstanding directing. his camera angles and quick paced motion shows his understanding of the script and the material. And to say that the acting in ia was better than in the departed is ridiculous. dicaprio shows his colors as one of the best actors in the buisness. his body language, tone, and facial expressions tell even more than his dialouge. jack nicholson really does his job and makes you really think of him as a scumbag. matt damon is spot on as well, he truly shows his character as a guy you hate but just cant seem understand why. those are just some initial reactions. if anyone has any questions about what i said feel free to ask.

Sam
May 21, 2007 at 05:06 AM
I totally agree with you. I saw IA twice before I watch the departed. when I was watching the departed, I keep making perdictions and almost the exact thing happen. I just thought the film is a copy of the original one. The change departed made are not that good neither. It combine two female character into one, who is kind of terrible. And the bad cop was killed at the end, which, really, makes the stody less shocking.

kev
June 01, 2007 at 09:40 PM
It just blows my mind how Scorsese, won an Oscar for movie that he didn't even make!!! I think that if Infernal Affairs was released before this movie, then reviews may of been different, the story was exactly the same. Most of script was exactly the same, the part about spotting a cop, cause someone who is pretending to look at you, was straight out of Infernal Affairs. I guess Scorsese wanted an Oscar bad enough, that he had to remake a great movie, and in my opinion shows he has no talent. Beause he didn't change a damn thing, just actors, character names and location!!

AW
June 04, 2007 at 04:06 PM
Internal Affairs is a great movie. The Departed is the not as good remake in English. I saw Internal Affairs yesterday, The Departed today. I liked your review.

shoot the president
July 19, 2007 at 01:35 PM
Let me start. Infernal Affairs was plain, clammy, bland, and fetid. Maybe that is what people get and mysteriously regard as ' complexity '. Its direction has no identity. While the cop and the criminal are indeed more believable and realistically made in their subdued portrayals, everyone else sucked. They have nothing endearing the audiences - the viewers - to them , and take to their memories. Especially that dick gangster boss. Fuck it. Plaid ! That dork is only about two things : 1.) he eats dumplings; and 2. ) he growls. Who doesn't? Otherwise just some shmuck they took to stand in for that part, with only rather shallow, pedestrian, basic human quips and nuances ' cut and pasted ' on the actor's otherwise blank slate to distinguish him from a hollow block. Plus, that female psychologist ( in that I.A. original ). Fuck, God why did they even bothered? The character's profile and text description was probably smarter than the actual person. That ' mouthing off all that stuff about ' multiple personalities ' thing is just grimy, and a stomach-churning feat , pouring out of an otherwise invertebrate. Fucker. The ' Departed ' one may have been something of a living, breathing mediocre mess ( and fifth version Maggie Gwyenhall powder ink zerox copy that doesn't really mean anything ), at least she was a PERSONALITY. I think the main major differentiating factor between this one and the Departed is the attitude it encourages from the filmmaking sensibilities they respectively represent. The Departed makes you like Martin Scorcese style directing/ filmmaking again' ; it constantly reminds you why the man is GRAND, not merely great in this field. It taps the high energy and the pulsating verve and the gripping seething pyre of Goodfellas and Taxi Driver, & puts it into new 21st century light. For the most part, it is not only a reminder to the legitimacy of this particular filmic sense, it is a TESTAMENT, a living proof that this is the real good stuff, and how movies should be in their stead. Fine, granted, the obvious, outright similarities between the structure and plot to Infernal Affairs is at times frustrating - and a continuing missive and jab the less enlightened, snobbish, bookworm bozos could just unleash because the violence found them squeamish ( not this review, but few people I know ), yet this is all good, because its all acknowledged, both in the film and in the media spaces. Better, finger-licking lines in tow. It doesn't jar me as much as Reservoir Dogs dealing with ' City on Fire ' ,and DENYING it for a time. The audacity ? Not fair, and no dice. Makes Martin Scorcese style likeable again, and Oscar - winning. Reminder of why this rabid sense deserves to exist. Meanwhile, this Infernal Affairs thing makes you upchunk in outward hatred at these new batch of crime touches, this neo-HK Crime Thrillers. It is the perfect, and utterly the worst example of what's wrong with this trend, and the downturn of even most Hollywood blockbusters up to this point. I remember once that much of the supposed achievement of this film is that it was like the HK movies of the 80's only done deliberately and totally 180 degrees in reverse ; focusing more on realistic procedure, character development, fine tuned, low frequency acting, and sophisticated plot development ( as if the 80s stuff were deprived of these; in fact that's the last time I remember seeing these in ). Roughly, that is what's enternally wrong with these new mindset. In its mission to trim down and reduce all the perceived fat of the late '80s - early '90s so-called ' excesses ', the final product is damn fucking thinned, it felt like there's an intellectual, artistic famine state. And it shows. Most horribly, it feels like a surrender; the tone of these new stuff looks and sounds like they're embarrased of the old guard ; they're ashamed of their histrionics, they're swish panning and moving through moments and time frames, the balletic bullet sparking and flying melodies. Mostly, their buckets and swaths of gore. Its got an air of some overmind telling that adults can only read financial news; they can forget the popcorn. The solution, it seems, is to forcibly drag the entire genre into a much more strenuosly straight laced path, and behaved profile wrongly consider as an ' evolution ', if not to the ground. It would have been okay - if the filmmakers were mature enough to handle that process of maturity. This film was directed by a Canto-pop singer whose star rose mostly in the early 90s or so. Now the 90s was a perioud of forced indoctrination of global trends on local populations. Most of these just happen to have MTV and Hollywood trudgingly running through its veins. This is where Andy Lau belongs to; where he is really coming from; he's not from the more glorious generation of Ringo Lams and John Woos and Tsui Hark in their primes. Not that near the daring and local ingenuity of the Shaw Brothers. These are the more informed generation ; feeding off the raw talents of their local Chinese texts as well as the more passionate, unhampered Western ones; back when ideas and sensibilities were strewn from literature and poetry, visual or otherwise; and not from the bottom line. This guy , by comparison, feels like he's getting his from a vending machine, stocked with the latest Blockbuster videos, and the crime show gestures or what not. Again it shows. THIS is the type of person telling the previous generation what their action should look like now. I mean, its not like the previous masters didn't look to often great American artisans and filmmakers, right? But at least, it wasn't this artificial. The directors here are sooo adamant at making a more mature version, that they merely end up looking the part. Film feels like its only going through the motions, especially of what a taut crime thriller should look like , and one that is miles foreign to these perpetrators. What occurs then? The bullshit staples : stiff acting, robotic movement from one plot point to the other, overall vibe that has a sharply metallic taste . Plus, next to no action. Dehydrated and empty. Granted, there still are the rather interesting high concepts, but then... Perhaps the most painful irony of all these gestures is that it's seemingly a smack-dab act of cow-towing to the disciplines of the West, unwarrantedly apologizing to them for the locally - flavored filmic ' iniquities ' of their past , such as ' kung fu ' or ' gun fu ', the rabid ultraviolence . The final product usually ends up now being more ' Westernized ' than ever, in these fickle attempts to brush off the unfairly ' B - Movie '/ ' Home Video ' stigma dealt onto the legendary past works in favor of a much more mechanical, stable mainstream ' Hollywood ' production sheen , thereby robbing these of their purpose. Plus, they do not feel THAT unique anymore. Plot is original ? Its practically feels and breaths like ' Face - Off ', and even THAT was John Woo remaking his own old Hong Kong material. For the West. That this was merely toned down ( more like downgraded )and finely wedded into the confines of cops-vs-mafia fictional reality and its own sets of rules & physics does not make it so much more. Plus, in its pretentious attempt to ' outsleek ' its colonial masters, it sleekness becomes the point. Which seems fine and dandy and all those who want to look ' smarter ' than they actually are , who like EDGE being shielded from them. Good thing, some people don't let up, right? Frankly, I've been bloody sick and fucking tired of these batch of films ( ' The Constant Gardener ', ' Crash ' - oh yes, fuck it - ' Crash ' ) , which came around since past 2004 maybe , or practically endemic in this godforsaken decade, that promises action , & whose OWN material actually DEMANDS the violence, yet deliberately deliver on NEITHER, or even DENYING THEM for the audience, just so they could seem more proper and civilized like the fucking rest of us. Rubbing their Ivy League, liberal-shliberal, ' I hate gore, its for masculine degenerates ' pointyheadedness on us, & on the material that frankly does not deserve them. Especially those who just repugnantly deprive the world of the bloodletting and gore and beating of skulls we so demand just for the narrow-mindedly pointdexter hell of it. This one, though made earlier than this eros-inhibited spate of nonesense that is hypocritically repulsed by their material enough to have to make us KNOW that everytime, sadly is suspect to these regrettable impulse. I mean if you like making these art films that abhor the action genre and its audience, and the rest of us, fine. Do it on your own time. Leave us all alone. The source material is simply that :' Heroic Bloodshed ' without the Blood' indeed. Truly gutted down, anemic , and sucked out dry. The only thing left spared is the twangy Canto-pop incidental music. Martin Scorcese et al thus, need not worry of the whole ' remake ' rebuke in this regard. Its like with this stuff the second-generation bastards took hold and helmed these grand institutions and told everybody else these new set of laws, and threw the remaining talented yet mature staltwarts to a cinematic retirement facility, yet not really being much of an upheaval to begin with. No one really should tell me what my action films is, or should look like; especially those who do not know what that means. ___ Yes, I agree. They have all stopped making any new material. Put your money on the Koreans.

Jackie
September 15, 2007 at 12:45 PM
really a insightful review, and i'm greatly surprised at your admiration for the IA. i'm the first to watch it and i got quite disappoited after going through the remake,which contains no affection or attachment between one and another at all, always always benefit conflicts as individuals. to put it short, i'm still out of it despite of my trying to be stirred.

Dan
September 26, 2007 at 07:42 PM
I will start by saying that I did not see the Asian internal affairs with a name already used for a 1990 film with Richard Gere which I also liked. I have seen The departed several times and being a "mafia movie" fan starting with scarface I love this movie. I like many did not know this was any type of remake so maybe I have a different perspective. If you take the movie for the script an acting it really is awesome and I have yet to find any friends that I have seen it with disagree. Maybe the script shouls be credited elsewhere as stated but it shouldn't take away from this movie. I will make one comment on the Asian version...I also like martial arts movies and I have seen my share of Asian versions that have won tons of awards and I found them to be truly second rate and sometimes simply unwatchable. Maybe internal affairs is different but if it is its very unique in its element.

Beth Accomando
September 26, 2007 at 10:00 PM
Dan, I just want to point out a couple things. The Asian film is INFERNAL Affairs not INTERNAL Affairs (that's the Richard Gere film). Second although it comes from Hong Kong it's not a martial arts film--it's a police actioner. And if you think Asian martial arts films are second rate, then you've been watching the wrong films. By the way, when I glanced quickly at your comment I thought what does he have to say about "won tons" then I saw the whole sentence... "won tons of awards." Anyway, it made me laugh. Thanks for your post and do make an effort to see Infernal Affairs.

Aaron Lisk
October 10, 2007 at 06:13 PM
Some good point....some.

kenny
October 17, 2007 at 11:32 AM
this review is right on the money beth i was surprised when you wrote he didnt admit this movie was a remake -- it clearly was a remake. i watched the departed tonight and i was disappointed. i expected a lot out of this movie after having watched infernal affairs for a long time now, which by the way blew my mind away. dicarprio's was superb and the overall editing was good in the departed but the emotional and psychological factor was just not there as they were in infernal. in the departed, it's just like people kills each other, they die and that's it. there's not enough depth to it (one of the factors is the music, which was not there in the dying of the characters -- very big difference to infernal affairs). there is nothing there in the movie for the audience to take a look back at our 'hero'.

Beth Accomando
October 17, 2007 at 03:14 PM
Thanks Kenny. I'm glad you appreciate Infernal Affairs. I just wish the film had received a release here in the US so that more people could have had a chance to see it.

Robert
November 20, 2007 at 09:52 PM
I have not seen IA, but found The Departed a little bit of a letdown - mainly because I had heard so much about it. It required a departure from reality and was a bit "too" everything. Too many extremes for the nature of what they do. Nicholson is too crazy-homicidal to last long as a mob boss. (They tend to get killed or arrested, he tends to act more like an enforcer.) DeCaprio is too good while undercover (never is required to do something really bad, yet advances in the ranks. A boss would smell a rat fast.) Damon, on the other hand, advances in police ranks (perhaps due to influence? never shown.), but is always using the cell phone to tip off busts. (Umm...cell companies have call details which record every number in and out - seems to me that anyone investigating a mole would have checked Damon's early on - especially when he had two phones.) Damon also seems a bit too worldly for his job/role - Duck L'Orange? Give me a break. Wahlberg comes on as a psychotic foil to Nicholson, but he is so aggressive, how would he ever make it to any rank? (Stepping on toes in a PD doesnt get one far.) The background characters are pretty cardboard, despite good acting. (I would have loved a plot shift - perhaps making the Captain a mole as well, who is accidentally uncovered by Damon's actvity - could explain Damon's advance, but would require him not to know the UC. Would have been really cool for him not to know who Decaprio was, and both discover at the meet.) Overall, the movie was very good - I really enjoyed it. BUT, quite a few realistic avenues are lost. I also could not get into Decaprio as a gangster or UC officer - He doesnt carry the air of a Pacino (Serpico) or Lawrence Fishburne (Deep Cover), both of which show the intensity of UC work. Or even Reservoir Dogs. Perhaps because it is a remake or perhaps because it was already a looooong movie, I think depth was sacrificed to stuff in a bunch of other things - thus, the movie is "in your face" and no substantial subtlety existed. Perhaps with less of the girlfriend, the main character's struggle with their double lives could have been shown. Even concealing the identities of the players from the audience would have been fun - think if Damon's involvement wasn't revealed until late in the movie. Tension is excellent when the danger is unkown - No Way Out, Usual Suspects, and several others which did not recieve the Oscar did a much better job with subtlety. The Godfather series was masterful with it. Who knew what became the driving force with the audience. Even the finale of the Sopranos did this. Unfortunatley, the end of the Departed seemed so forced - lots of shock value with no substance behind it. Kinda left you hanging. If less time was spent on the girlfriend, then perhaps more could have been spent on the character's internal conflicts and fears. Then the reasons for the violence would have been more apparent. Then a very good movie would have been great. By the way, I think Nicholson, Damon, Sheen, Balwin and, to an extent, Wahlberg are great actors who I love to watch. Dicaprio, in my humble opinion, is overrated - Aviator was good, but that was about it. Titanic, ugh. Gangs, ugh (x2). Now as a prettyboy police undercover in a hardcore established gang -doesn't fit. Even with the character's family history. Not to say he cannot act, but I feel he was miscast.

Beth Accomando
November 20, 2007 at 10:15 PM
Robert, Wow! You essentially wrote a review. We might have to start paying you for such detailed posts. Thanks for the post and for reminding me of films like Serpico and Deep Cover.

robert motherwell
December 13, 2007 at 09:31 AM
do you jsut dog on movies just so you can be a popular critic who acts like knows what he is talking about. Ive seen goodfellas, casino, taxi driver, and they are amazing. I saw american gangster and marvelled of how much better this would have been with scorsesse. It appals me that you would dawg this movie. its the best movie of the next generation. the actors are unbelievable and you should find a another day job.

Beth Accomando
December 13, 2007 at 03:12 PM
Yes Goodfellas and Taxi Driver are amazing, brilliant. But The Departed is not. It has it's moments but that's it. I don't base my opinions on what I think might be popular (and disliking films does not make a critic popular). Infernal Affairs (the film The Departed is based on) kicks ass on Scorsese's film. I think Scorsese is a genius but his last few films pale in comparison to his earlier works.

Wozza from LOndon, Eng
February 25, 2008 at 02:36 AM
i've seen Infernal Affairs several times - i love Tony Leung anyway, just to declare an interest - and i thought it was superb. Then i saw the remake - and - well - IA is so much better than i gave it credit for the for first time around. Not a single frame wasted while remaining understated, massive psychological tesion that just could not be matched by The Dparted during all the excessive violence and swearing replacing story telling. I expected GREAT things of TD, i really did, i like Marty - i really do - but this wasn't his project, if this had been set in New York he could probably have gotten away with it, if he picked his own cast (i don't believe he could have picked LDC) he could have got away with it - if the plot hadn't been changed at THOSE places - he could have got away with it. But - like many of the posters here i find that TD's staunchest defenders are people who do not even know that IA exists, while IA's detractors think every movie from Hong Kong should be a high octane martial arts extravaganza. The Departed wasn't a bad film - and it would have been a truly great film if it was standing out there on it's own,but there was too much baggae around and it's flaws are so evident -someone else got there first.

Beth Accomando from San Diego
February 25, 2008 at 06:23 AM
I agree. And seeing Marty at the Oscars tonight reminded me that he got the Oscar for the wrong film. Infernal Affairs was better and when he won he didn't even offer any thanks to the film that was the basis of his own.