The Departed

It is intriguing to wonder what Scorsese saw in the Hong Kong movie that inspired him to make the second remake of his career (after "Cape Fear"). I think he instantly recognized that this story, at a buried level, brought two sides of his art and psyche into equal focus.

When a director of Scorsese's caliber is working at the top of his game, it's a reminder of why we go to the movies in the first place.

It isn't in the same league as the director's best work, chiefly because it lacks the bravura flourishes of cinematic craft that helped make his name. But it's so vital and bloody and funny and wicked and tense and unapologetic that it feels kin to those films, which little of the director's work of the past decade has managed to pull off.

This is a dream cast for both Scorsese and the viewer, and everyone is working at the peak of their craft. Nicholson's flawless performance as the increasingly unhinged crime boss is a marvel of manic, paranoid ruination.

Crackles right along, stopping only long enough for Scorsese's signature bursts of explosive violence. Those brawls feel a bit rote, but what's different here is a newfound playful humor.

It's nice to see Scorsese back in the saddle and a treat to find a cops-and-robbers thriller with some energy and wit. But even so, it's a stylish head rush of a movie that flies by, even at two-and-a-half hours, and keeps turning the knife (and your stomach) up to the final scene.

Is Scorsese desperate? This screenplay has the scent of it, as if he is scraping for material to feed his basic filmic interests. But the risk in this case--not evaded--was that his need led him close to painful strain. I can't remember another Scorsese moment as shockingly banal as the finishing touch here.

The Direction was amazing. (maybe one of the reasons why he won the Oscar for it) I loved how some of the scenes were shot and set up. Especially regarding the Chinatown, and police interrogation scenes, among many others. The film is perfectly set up with intense, suspense scenes while adding in amounts humor at times. It works really well. The script is top notch. (Also Oscar winning) Realistic strong dialogue from scene to scene.

Interesting story and different from the classic films of its kind. The development is well done and maintains a high level of suspense and typical of thrillers from beginning to end, proposing a solid story that captures the attention until the end

It's a clever story. Most of the characters are unlikeable, with the exceptions of Jack Nicholson's Costello, and Martin Sheen's Queenan.

Have people not seen Scorsese's masterpiece 'Goodfellas'? I struggle to understand how they could have and then rate this formulaic film so highly. Right from the start it's obvious that Scorsese was lazily reworking much of the Goodfellas formula, using Jack Nicholson as the foundation character, somewhat more like Pesci than De Niro though - as he isn't likeable - and even less mentally stable. As the story evolves, Nicholson's character's personality quickly becomes a very poorly researched (unresearched) mixture of bipolar, schizophrenic, and psychotic mental illnesses - poorly, and confusingly portrayed by Nicholson, no thanks to Scorsese's lack of help and direction (because Scorsese clearly only read the tabloid version of these mental illnesses). Another problem with Scorsese lazily dialing in his direction and reworking the Goodfellas formula is that the era the film's set in is a bizarre mix of '70s to modern day, but with little actually changes to the time frame. The pacing and structure of the film is so poor that when the main plot point occurs in the middle of the film you're left confused, thinking, "Is this really the moment the plot was leading up to, or is it just more build-up." But no, the main event really is halfway through the film and very anticlimactic. As, with most directors, Scorsese isn't the brightest of individuals so there's plenty of plot holes or illogical elements for you to force yourself to ignore, too. The second half of the film feels more like it should've been the first half's sequel - resultantly, in effect, seeming like two weak films being glued together. The first half is too short and the second half is too long, leaving you asking yourself, "Didn't the film end an hour ago?" Also, the second half reveals and exploits the extremely 'long game' played by one of the mobsters, which is obviously completely ridiculous - they don't just bribe people instead, still? Outside of Nicholson's poor and unbelievable performance, most other actors do a good job, especially DiCaprio. Mark Wahlberg, however, despite looking a bit out of place, is one of the few likeable characters. The first half of 'The Departed' is like a heist movie, and the second half is a vendetta, which features so many over the top, shock value, killings it's clearly ripping off 'The Godfather' in the style of 'To Live And Die In L.A.' To Live And Die In LA, despite the low production values, is far superior to this mess, plus it has an authentic retro ('80s) setting and soundtrack. Alternatively, just re-watch Goodfellas or the first two Godfather films instead. Overrated, weak reworking of the Goodfellas formula, with terrible structure, and lazy direction. 2/10* *It's probably a 4, but I'm trying to make up for all the "10/10!!!!!1" uncultured reviewers.

This movie is pretty much an overrated remake of Infernal Affairs. When I first saw this movie I thought it would be AMAZING since it had won the oscar fo best picture and all. I was very disappointed and all I remember was mostly people saying the F word over and over again. Some parts of the movie tries to have crude humor but it fails miserably. Now I saw this movie before I saw the original infernal affairs I saw infernal affairs about a year after an thought the original was much much MUCH better. This movie lacks proper character development and we feel no emotion for the characters. The only thing better about this remake is the mob boss played by Jack Nicholson. This movie is WAY overrated and I really don't recomend watching it. I however can recomend watching the original movie. The orginal movie "Inferna Affairs" has what this movies missing(a heart).