The Departed Reviews

[Highly rated reviewer]

Must see Movie

Brace yourself for this film.... it's a fast-paced, tense, action packed movie which doesnt let up for a minute. My body actually ached afterwards from being tense throughout.

Yes its a remake of Infernal Affairs but the acting and action here are outstanding. I would advise all to see it - one of the best films I've seen in a while, and believe me, I've watched a lot.

Will be better the first time you see this so make sure you're comfortable and definitely try and see it on the big screen before renting/buying.

Wish more people would talk like Dignam (Mark Wahlberg).

[Highly rated reviewer]

Excellence has departed.

In case you didn’t know (as I didn’t) this film is a remake of Infernal Affairs, A 2002 Chinese film. It’s ok… but the original was a Masterpiece. I find it difficult to say anything about the film other than how it is a bad copy. It seems that Scorsese has taken the original and fitted it to the American audience. Unfortunately this means removing any complexity from the characters or plot and generally dumbing everything down a bit. It’s not even done very well. Some of the original character complexity was intrinsic to the plot so without this, parts of the new plot don’t make any sense. It is hard to explain this without giving spoilers though.

The original was also a very detailed film with lots of little bits and pieces which mostly didn’t mean anything but some of them turned out to affect the entire plot. Again, this detail has been stripped from The Departed to leave room for Blockbuster action and spoon fed explanations, leaving a bland film for one thing, but worse, every time you are shown any detail (such as the miss spelling on the envelope) it’s so in your face that it will obviously be highly important. And how many times did we really need to see the envelope to make sure we remembered it?! These things are all due to the US audience apparently requiring less complexity, more explanation of what’s left over, and a less controversial ending.

I can see why people who haven’t seen Infernal Affairs would think this is a good film. In fact, for Hollywood it is quite a good film (it must be, it has won several awards don't you know). But that just goes to show that in global terms Hollywood is severely lacking at the moment.

Disappointing

As a big fan of both Martin Scorsese and the Hong Kong movie Infernal Affairs that The Departed is based on, I was looking forwards to this film. Sadly I've come away somewhat disappointed.

Taking it on its own strengths, it's a decent thriller with a good premise, but it really needed another pass on the script to tighten it up and (sad to say) stronger direction. I love Goodfellas, Casino, Taxi Driver, even The Last Temptation Of Christ. The Departed can't match the narrative or visual flair of those films.

The script is full of dead ends and wasted potential, and it doesn't help that the editing is choppy at best, downright sloppy at worst. It's almost as if (despite the two and a half hour running time) half the story and character development has been left on the cutting room floor.

The FBI connection never really goes anywhere, the pregnancy comes out of nowhere and goes straight back there, the love triangle never gives the pay-off you expect at the end (such as the identity of the baby's father), Costello's wife is a waste of space who doesn't add anything to the story, the envelope Billy gives Colin's wife is never used for anything, the mainland Chinese gang with their corrupt official in tow seem to have wandered in from Infernal Affairs 3 and are totally irrelevant to the plot, and when they get arrested (off-screen) a couple of scenes later, the target of the bust on Costello's gang just switches from the stolen micro-processors (which vanish into McGuffin Land almost without comment) to a drugs shipment (which appears from much the same place).

On the other hand, while Monahan and Scorsese find time for all these narrative cul de sacs, the characters and core storyline are poorly developed. Only Leonardo di Caprio's Billy is really fleshed out, and it's no coincidence that he comes out of the film with one of the strongest performances. The supporting cast in particular is woefully wasted, with actors of the calibre of Martin Sheen, Ray Winstone, Alec Baldwin and Mark Wahlberg reduced to virtual cameos.

Where the film really suffers though is in comparison to Infernal Affairs. For example -

- Matt Damon's Colin is one dimensional and uninteresting compared to the equivalent character that Andy Lau plays in IA.

- Martin Sheen's Queenan doesn't have the same close relationship with Billy that Anthony Wong has with Tony Leung in IA (or the screen time to develop it), making his death far less moving and Billy's extreme emotional reaction to it somewhat bizarre.

- Making Matt's girlfriend and Billy's shrink the same person was a good idea, but the relationship between Billy and the psychiatrist isn't given as much time to develop as it was in IA.

- The numerous scenes that The Departed lifts almost verbatim from IA (from Queenan's death and the elevator shoot-out to the encounter at the movie theatre and the smashing of the cast on Billy's arm) mostly come across as pale imitations, lacking the emotion, tension and visual flair that cinematographer Christopher Doyle and directors Alan Mak and Andrew Lau brought to IA. It doesn't help that some of these scenes have been lifted entirely out of context and inserted into a different place in the story.

- IA's intro is flashy and concise, getting you straight to the heart of the story in double quick time without leaving any room for confusion. By comparison, The Departed takes far too long to set up all the pieces at the start of the film and does it in a rather clunky manner, making the opening a little muddled and long-winded.

- The constant texting and mobile phone calls in The Departed lack the tension of Tony Leung's morse code messages in IA.

- And so on and so forth...

It's no surprise to me that fans of IA found The Departed a bit of a let down by comparison. It does surprise me to see so many Scorsese fans here waving the flag for what is in my opinion one of his weaker movies.

Is The Departed a bad movie? No. Is it a great movie? No. Is it one of Scorsese's best? Definitely not. Is it as good as Infernal Affairs? Not even close

Fabulously Brutal

Good Points

• It’s a Scorsese

• Excellent performances

• Intricate & engrossing plot

• Intelligent & visceral

Bad Points

• 150 minutes long

• Occasionally confusing plot elements

• It’s a re-make

• Not everyone’s idea of a happy ending

Watch: if you are looking for Pulp Fiction without the humour

dont miss this one!

fantastic acting throughout, wonderful to see jack nicholson back to his disturbing best! great story, plenty of twists, i watched this at the cinema with my hubby who loved it too and we were so engrosed we didnt realise we had been in there for 2 1/2 hours till we tried to stand up to leave and couldnt feel our legs any more! dared move a muscle for fear of missing something. go and see it right now! you womt be sorry.

Who gives a rat's ass?

Very faithful remake, with some of the eye for detail proving that Scorcese's interest in Asian cinema extends beyond Lau and Mak. The Hollywood buzz makers will tell you that this is Scorcese back to his best. He's not. But when you've already made Taxi Driver, who really cares.

Oscar Travesty

Scorcese might sleep sounder now he has an Oscar on his bedside table, but it is a travesty that he won for this Hollywood pap and not for the genius of his earlier films. The plot of The Departed is full of holes, and the use of text messaging to move the story along is pathetic. Nicholson tries to steal every scene but overacts appallingly, and Winstone is plain embarrassing mumbling his way through another cardboard cut-out, psycho-thug role. As for the female lead, it’s shocking she is portrayed as a unproffesional, weak willed, bed-jumper when she is meant to be an intelligent, university educated doctor. A poor film from a brilliant director.

THE DEPAAAAAAAAHTED

Okay, by the standards of modern Hollywod, it's a good movie. There's a decent script, albeit a ripped-off one . It's beautifully shot and there are some fun A-list performances.

But it's no more than a good movie. The ludicrous Boston accents become annoying very quickly. Leo and Matt are easy to watch, but they look like a pair of vegetarian underwear models and convey as great a sense of menace as Ant and Dec. And while Jack is always entertaining, you never for a moment forget who you're watching.

Others have complained that the plot has been dumbed down from the Asian original, and that the exposition is heavy-handed. This is true. But everything has to be simplified for American viewers because so many of them are retaaaaaaahded.

part with your money!!

This film was brilliant.

I so loved the original Infernal affairs (not as good as IA 2 mind you) and was both pleased and worried when it was announced when it was to be hollywood made.

My optimism imporived when I heard ole Marty and the boys were making this film.

The Cast

jack - fantastic a better screen presence then even his turn as the joker.

Mark and matt both sound performances - Matt damon's role not as guilty as the original but still well played.

Leo - I just yo think this kid is crap - gangs of new york just didn't work for me. But has he matured. He has this ability to tell some much just with his eyes and reminds me of a young Pacino ( I know I sound mad). But trust m in 20-30 years he will be this generations deniro, or pacino. (please no dodgy comedies).

if you've seen IA you know what to expect a bit more violence and scorceses beautifully crafted cinema. found the scenes jumpy in their editing but still great.

The story is great and I even think it is an improvement on the original

go see this on the big screen to savour Jack and the boys and just buy it when it makes it's arrival on dvd

Watch Infernal Affairs first

Dont get me wrong this is a very good film. Great director, actors and story. However its all been done before and better in my opinion.

The Departed is a remake of the Hong Kong classic Infernal Affairs. Now I actually only found this out after seeing The Departed. Out of curiosity I put Infernal Affairs on my rental list and hey presto had it in my DVD player within a week.

I have to say I was shocked by how closely the remake resembled the original film. The storyline was identical in just about every way barring the snap-on Hollywood ending in The Departed. But what struck me the most was how Scorsese, instead of making his own mark on the film decided to frankly (in my opinion) plagiarise the original director's work.

Watch Infernal Afairs and decide for yourself.