I saw The Departed today, it was a pretty good film but to me not the masterpiece a lot of people say it is, its on the same level as IA, Jack Nicohlson was the best part about the film, he will surely be nominated for many awards, the film is very entertaining but its knowhere near as good as goodfellas.

***/****

B

I'll give this a disappointing B grade. Rather fragmented ending that ruined an entertaining experience.

"When I was your age, they said you could become cops or criminals. When you're facing a loaded gun, what's the difference?"

That quote will become iconic, I think.

This is what i called a real movie. great cast, great director, great script. great acting, great cinematography. the movie is very convincing. i enjoyed every minutes of the movie from the start till the end, although i've already know how the movie is going to end, because it's a remake of INFERNAL AFFAIRS, which is my all time top 5 movie. but it's still enjoyable. Leonardo, Matt, Jack, and the rest of the character gives their best performances in The Departed. The Departed is really deserve to win Best Picture next year. so is Martin Scorsese for Best Director.

The Departed = solid A+

Definitley the best movie I've seen this year. Everything about this movie is extremely solid, and not a single second of it is boring. Leo continues to improve as an actor, and Jack shows he still has the skills to be the best actor in any movie. Just fantastic.

-A

Saw it last night in a pretty crowded theater.

Such a great film. I agree with Zing's comments about the Boston aspect of the film...To refresh memories this is what he said:


I personally loved the ending, mostly because too many films these days, especially Oscar-caliber films, feel like they need to search for a profound and intellectual ending that wraps everything up perfectly, which usually leads to a deliberate and unsatisfying ending. I have a feeling everyone who sees this movie WANTS to see Wahlberg do what he did at the end of this film, and it totally justifys the entire film. Did anyone else notice the symbolic meaning at the end (besides the rat) involving the groceries Damon was carrying home?
Nicholson was good in this film, and I think he deserves a supporting actor nod. Damon personally I think outshined DiCaprio in this one, in my opinion mostly because I hated Damon more than I was rooting for DiCaprio. (If that makes sense) Wahlberg kicked some serious ass, and I found Alec Baldwin incredibly amusing. The falling off the building scene was beautifully shot, as well as the elevator scene. I say its Scorcese's best since Goodfellas, and I think it needs two or three more viewings to determine whether it is a better film (it very well could be)
Someone else here said the editing, especially in the beginning, was a little too quick, and I 100% agree. I felt like I was getting tossed around for a while, and although I knew what was going on, I still felt a sense of confusion. Things settle down midway through the film, and the long gaps of time between scenes didn't bother me too much, except there wasn't much done to show the audience time had passed, until a certain actor specifically stated or implied time had passed.
Favorite line as of now HAS to be Baldwin when he has a one-sided conversation with Damon about being a health freak. I wish I could remember the whole thing. And every time "Gimme Shelter" came on in this movie it gave me the chills. Perfect Fit. Just like Martin was for this film.

9.5/10

I didn't say it.

Infernal Affairs is one of my all time favorites too. I alos thought that the Departed was the best movie I saw all year. However there was just too much in this remake that was shot for shot from Infernal Affairs.

There are however changes and scene rearrangement. The mob mole works for several crime bosses in Infernal Affairs. The main Boss Sam(Jack Costello in The Departed) was not as prominent. Cops are only paying atention to the mob guys in the conversation in IA instead of not paying attention to them in The Departed. I think the biggest difference si the police mole lives in the end of IA and the Mark wahlberg character did not exist and you see the cop falling off the buiding instead of just landing on the car which IMO changed teh mood of the scenes. Matt Damon was a bit too whiny at the end of the film and did not seemlike the man in charge of things like the poice mole did in IA. Although my biggest complaint about IA was that it was paced too fast and I think the Departed did a better job of that. Adding stuff like the camera othe street and the guy getting stabed in the chase scene. I felt the ending in The Departed to be too Hollywood and a crowd pleaser.

Those who break the rules will be like him
They will be expelled
Anybody wants to trade place with him?

I do

Says the Buddha:

"He who is in Continuous Hell never dies
Longevity is a big hardship
in Continuous Hell"

Kill then (I think) my bbbbbbbbbbbbb

Folks, there's a reason it's called a remake. There's no threat of deja-vu at all if you haven't seen Infernal Affairs.

Since everybody already said everything worth saying, here's my comment:

The Departed had superior execution. It immersed me in the storyline even more, and had a tenser, grittier feeling. However, the ending with its overblown body count just didn't work. Too implausible and somewhat pointless, really.

B-, but one of the most disappointing movies of the year. While Jack Nicholson, Wahlberg, and Farmiga were great, the two main leads' performances weren't up to par. Damon gave a better performance in freaking The Bourne Supremacy while Leonardo DiCaprio's other Scorsese performances were better. And this was one of Scorcese's weakest films, as I found The Aviator, Gangs of New York, Bringing Out the Dead and Casino to be superior in just the post-Goodfellas era. The script was good in the beginning but when it tried to adapt elements in the original Infernal Affairs, it just wasn't executed very well at all. Not a bad movie overall, but not very satisfying either.

It's a good film, but it's not great. A solid B.

I have a theory on Scorsese now. I reckon he gets an automatic buffer for every film he makes just because he's so long overdue for an academy award. In Rotten Tomatoes terms, this means he gets an automatic 30% rating that acts like a handicap for all his films. It's what pushed The Aviator and Gangs of New York over 60%. This same buffer translates to the Oscars, where he gets nods for being Scorsese, but never wins because his films are so painfully average.

Now he's made an above average, quite good film. Which means that The Departed, a film that if made by any other director would've probably gotten about 60-70% on Rotten Tomatoes, gets the buffer bump up to 93%, and it might very well translate into his first Oscar win.

Which gets me thinking.... if he ever makes another film as good as Goodfellas, we might very well see the first movie ever to get a rotten tomato rating over 100% and win two oscars for best picture.

Does that also explain why pretty much everyone loves this film too and the movie's legs?

Hmm... Maybe it would.

Snrub may be on to something here.

... yes.

What did the groceries have to do with anything???

The groceries contained the same shit Nicholson gave him as a kid for free in the beginning of the film.

ah good spot french man. i didnt notice that. Was there a Wolverine comic visibile?

I'm not too sure about that...I'm pretty sure no because that just wouldn't have made sense seeing he's in his 30's...But either way I need to see the film again

Me too. I will check it out for a second time this weekend.

Just saw it and Ill say it was a very good movie. The acting and direction was amazing.

Nicholson's best performance since As Good as it Gets, Quite possibly Leo's best up there with Catch me if you can and the Aviator, Damon was very good, at times one felt sympathetic and hatred at the same time. Walburg continues to amaze, he stole every scene and Alec Baldwin and Jack and Martin all stole it back, the cast was really top notch and just great to watch.

It was a little slow in the beginning with what I thought was unecessary exposition, but hey what are you going to do.

Id say easily in my top 10 for the year and I think Scorcese's 3rd best film of all time after Goodfellas and Taxi Driver. It was such a good Irish cop and criminal movie. Truly a treat for me eyes.

I loved the ending shot with the rat on the balcony railing.

In this day and age, movie goers aren't treated to films like The Departed very often. First off, the film flys right by. There was a point in the film where I checked my cellphone to see what time it was because I really needed to go to the bathroom and I didn't want to leave the theater during the film. To my surprise, the film was nearly over. I didn't think it was more than a little over an hour into it. The second great this is that every single actor is as the top of his/her game. Leonardo DiCaprio gives an absolutely fantastic performance. Seriously, this man needs to be nominated for an Oscar and win it. He's so extremely underrated it's sad. This is probably my favorite performance by him in a movie. I loved the scenes between him and Vera Farmiga. Matt Damon was also fantastic, though not as amazing as Leo. Still, they both should win Oscars if they're nominated. They're just amazing in this. Jack Nicholson..well, he was great obviously. He's also surprisingly hysterical in some scenes. I loved the scene in the beginning when he shot the couple and someones said to him, "what's wrong?" and he said "she fell down weird." That had me laughing for a long time. Also the beginning part of the porn theater scene..=)) Mark Wahlberg was also great in his supporting role. Vera Farmiga gives the best female performance in the film (haha, aren't I funny? ). Really though, she was great. If you think she was great in Running Scared, see her in this. She looked really hot too. So did Leonardo DiCaprio and Matt Damon. I wish the scene between Vera Farmiga and Leo in the bedroom went on a little longer. They were both at the peak of their hottness in the movie. The direction, cinematography and editing is spectacular and breathtaking. This is really the shortest two and a half hour film I've ever seen. Like I said before, it's not often movie goers are treated to such a wonderful film as The Departed. For anyone who hasn't seen it: I highly suggest you do. You'll be in a real treat.

10/10 (A+)

Loved this movie, including it's one fatal flaw... lacking a strong identifiable actress in the psychiatrist role.

Who wouldn't love seeing the cream of American actors cruising through Hollywoodland in a refurbished Asian vehicle retrofitted in Irish mafia finery? So dark, so funny, so quotable. This is a movie's movie. And this once again brings me to my one big criticism -- Why no high profile young actress in the pivotal role of Madolyn? Was Scorcese scared she'd steal a bit of the limelight from this, his powerhouse sausagefest? The only slack I'll cut him, is if Vera Farmiga somehow blossoms into one of our leading actresses on a Cate Blanchett-esque trajectory in the next few years . Otherwise, I call wimp out.

Nonetheless, clearly on my 2006 top ten list and a movie I can't wait to see a few dozen times in the coming decades.

7 out of 5.

Sorry to disappoint, Dim Entity...