USER REVIEWS:
lalligood 9Gritty realism, excellent story, and superb performances by all of the leads. Definitely the best movie I've seen at the theater in 2006.
Oracle 4A failed attempt to bring "Goodfellas" back to the big screen...
Grade: C-
Martin Scorcese is back with his new film, "The Departed, which brings cinematic dysfunction on to the big screen. "The Departed" was one of my most anticapated films of the year. Well, I highly regret that now.
This film begins with the a self-reflexive narrative provided by a Wonderful actor, (who essentially saves the film from complete darkness) Jack Nicholson. He explains, "When you Have a gun pointed in your face, it dosent matter if your a cop, or a mobster."
Later the film incorperates Matt Damon, who plays the usual role with that smirky face of his. He plays an investigator who secretly works for Frank, but at the same time is a mole in the special police unit force, or something like that.
On the other side, is Leonardo DiCaprio who plays the opposite. He is an undercover cop who works for Frank. Such a wonderful role he plays. Honeslty, in previous films, DiCaprio has managed only to distinguish himself as one bad actor. In "The Departed", part of the 4 good points
it got is DiCaprio. He has finally found himself a role. Very good DiCaprio!
The other points go to Mr. Nicholson. He is flawless. Completely flawless. DiCaprio and him tandem, to make "The Departed". If "The Departed" Were to prove anything, it would be that Nicholson has not lost his touch. And that is magic.
So whats so bad about "The Departed"? let's say it is only a failed attempt to bring Goodfellas back tom the big screen. The viewers can probably imagine seeing Mr. Scorsese sitting there, thinkming of a way to bring back the Goodfellas "Pop" into our junky Modern Cinema. Mr. Scorcese has failed his old but magical touch in brining back Gangster classics. Oh boy, I can't until next year.
-Oracle
LMBradshaw 5Great cast but too much graphic violence. They should have titled "Shot in the Head" because only Jack Nicholson avoids getting shot there! Must have been in his contract.
bball 6If you have a "When Good Movies Go Bad" list this is one to write down.
What a great story idea, great cast, and a super director. Things get off to a great start. In the first half of the movie characters are developed, plotlines are drawn and you can feel the suspense and urgency building. In the second half things start to get disjointed with implausible or unexplained sequences, Damon's clunky acting starts to get noticeable, the directing techniques become heavy handed and derivitive. There are stretches in the movie where you wouldn't be surprised if Steven Seagal came onto the screen firing an AK47. What began as a tight story ends up getting convoluted and tangled up in a jumbled series of threads. A few of those threads are just left hanging because in hindsight they would have made the problems of logic in the storyline completely obvious.
Nicholson - great. DiCaprio - Great. Baldwin - Great (but underused). Some other good performances particularly from Nicholson's crew. This movie could have been a classic great film but settles for much less because of a near catastrophic finish. Hollywood is probably tired of watching Scorsese play the bridesmaid so he could very well win the award for what I'd call one of his worst directoral efforts ever. With so much going for this movie it falls squarely on Scorsese for this very promising movie to fall apart and fall so hard. Did old man Scorsese get tired? The movie certainly did but the memory of the good salvages this movie from getting thoroughly panned.
madmitch 8Good film but I hated the way Jack's part ended. What the heck was that all about?
dack 4I didn't like Infernal Affairs very much (the movie this was remade from), and I liked Departed even less. Very little drama or tension, but *tons* of very iffy Boston accents from Nicholson, DiCaprio, and even Damon. A terrible Oscar winner, on par with Crash. Scorsese winning the Oscar for this is a makeup for GoodFellas, kinda like Newman winning the Oscar for The Color of Money.
chunkbot 5retracting former review... I recently watched this again. Jack Nicholson's acting style drives me nuts. I wish they had used someone else for his role. Who? Anyone. And I was fooling myself that I liked Leonardo DiCaprio too. The only thing I liked was Alec Baldwin and Mark Wahlberg. Well, Alec Baldwin.
This movie is available on DVD/Video