Finally saw "The Departed" tonight. Hmm, what to say about it... I want to say that it's not bad of a movie, but definitely not "the best of Scorsese" as all the critics are calling it. I thought "Gangs of New York" was a better movie than this.
So, since this is a remake, everyone knows the story. Undercover bad guy in the police force, and undercover good guy in the crime force. Both were trying to find out who the other guy is, and at the end, everybody dies. Blah blah blah.
Let's talk about the cast. Jack Nicholson, never liked him, never will. He's just way too evil and perverted looking. However, he did an outstanding job as the crime boss Costello here. Just watching his face expression during some of the scenes was priceless. Leonardo DiCaprio as the good guy was just ok, maybe it was his fake Boston accent that made it not quite convincing enough. Matt Damon, as most people already said, just cannot measure up to Andy Lau's performance in the "Infernal Affairs". Damon never convinced us that he actually wants to turn good, he just wants to cover up his track when he thought Costello was selling his identity to the FBI. Martin Sheen and Mark Wahlberg playing the good cop bad cop was funny as hell, and with Alec Baldwin as the incompetent superior, they are actually my favorites in the movie. I especially loved it when they cussed to each other casually while in a serious meeting:
Baldwin: Go Fuck yourself! Wahlberg: Yeah, maybe I would. I'm sick of fucking your wife. Baldwin: Fuck you, how's your mother? Wahlberg: She's doing fine, very happy fucking my father.
Still cracks me up when I think about it now, hehe.
Next, the story. It sticks pretty closely with the storyline of "Infernal Affairs", except the movie takes place in Boston, DiCaprio and Damon are after the same girl, Mark Wahlberg as an additional comic relief character, and the ending of Damon's character. The movie actually ran a little too long for my taste, as they went into greater details about the two main characters' background. Nicholson showing his "thing" and how he fucks around with women disgust me quite a bit too, I thought that was unneccesary. And the ending, of course I hated the ending. How could I not? What about the loose ends? What happened to the envelope DiCaprio gave to the doctor before he died? How did Wahlberg know Damon is the mole? I left the movie feeling cheated and confused.
Anyways, it was not a bad movie. Just not quite as good as I expected it to be, that's all.
