The Departed

Summary:
In this remake of the Chinese movie Infernal Affairs, we have an undercover cop who is trying to bring down a criminal kingpin, while another cop is Frank Costello's (the Kingpin) inside man for the scoop on the police business.  The cops think there's a rat in the system, while Costello thinks there's a rat under HIS wing as well.  Rat sniffing ensues.

Review:
Hey, this isn't The Aviator, so I should give it an "A" based on that principle alone! Seems like Scorcese's going back to what he does best with this movie, doing a flick on the crime world. I don't mind that one bit!
The strongest aspect of The Departed is in the dialogue, which runs smoothly and is very whitty in ways that only movies can do it. Lots of funny moments in what people say to each other, but SO MUCH so that you can't take these people seriously. It's a Hollywood flick, but hey, it works beautifully, much in the way that Goodfellas kicked ass with the dialogue. I can't take points away for that.
Leo DiCaprio has been extremely good in some of his roles. Don't believe me? Have you seen The Basketball Diaries, This Boy's Life, or What's Eating Gilbert Grape? He possitively kicked ASS in those movies, and one must try hard not to think about Titanic or his slew of other shitty movie roles. Under Scorcese's directorial hand for The Departed, he manages to become a little bit of Joe Pesci (LOVE the beating with the coat rack!) now and again, and plays the undercurrent of aggressive insanity very deftly. I give props! Matt Damon doesn't have much chance to stand out, which isn't really his fault. I feel that he was written rather weakly, and was the weakest of the three leads. Marky Mark was a profanity filled hunk of aggressive anger; and I laughed every moment he was onscreen! FUNNY!! Jack Nicholson totally hammed it up, and provided most of the laughs. He's a perverted, disturbed old man. I haven't seem him this hammy since his role as The Joker in Batman. This works for the laughs, and his insanity as Costello becomes apparent, but at the same time it threw me out of the realism of the movie, and reminded me that I was WATCHING a movie again.

I enjoyed the nitty gritty use of violence, many times superfluous (loved the splattered body off the building; I laughed). It's Scorcese, whaddaya expect? There isn't much to say about this movie, except that it's competently directed, goes on a little too long for my tastes, and the conclusion is pretty contrived and ridiculous. Also, the last shot of the movie is of a rat walking across a balcony railing. Do we really need this shot? Get it? The whole movie's about sniffing out a rat in the system! That's funny, isn't it? No, it's NOT!
The Departed is a good movie with strong performances from the cast (even Damon pulled it off in the end), but is totally Hollywood - meaning that it isn't realistic, just dramatic. If you're expecting that kind of movie, I am thinking you'll have a great time with it. It's definetely a good movie, but far from excellent.

GRADE: B

Reviewed: 10/14/06