Posted on 11/06/2006 2:25:30 PM PST by TheDoctorNoh
[plot] Two men from opposite sides of the law are undercover within the Massachusetts State Police and the Irish mafia, but violence and bloodshed boil when discoveries are made, and the moles are dispatched to find out their enemy's identities.
But I have to say that this is possibly most overrated films I've seen in a long time. It's poorly edited, gratiously violent, and even badly acted in certain instances (Dicaprio did shine. He is undoubtedly one of more talented actors in Hollywood these days).
Martin Scorcese, this was not your best work. I hope you don't actually believe these sycophantic reviewers. Hire a real editor next time and learn to get your audiences out of there in less than two hours please.
The movie was ruined by the ending which made no sense. I won't spell out the problems in public in case some one hasn't seen it.
Not only was it long but apparently not long enough to make sense. Seemed like something was cut.
It was not up to Scorcese's standards and Nicholson was playing his standard lunatic.
I have a soft spot in my heart for Southie (because my Dad grew up there) and,as a result,I'll probably see it at some point...perhaps on DVD.
Couldn't agree more. I liked Road to Perdition, even if the reviewers and most Americans couldn't be bothered with it. Paul Newman was really good, I thought.
I thought it was Tom Hanks' best performance.
Sadly, the film (especially first half) was better than the ending.
Since it's Scorsese I kept comparing it to GoodFellas. In GF he made you care about even the minor characters and what ultimately happened to them. In Departed, I cared less about each character as the film progressed.
I realize Jack Nicholson has made a handsome living playing himself for the better part of 30 years but in an ensemble cast it's distracting and ultimately hurts the film.
I almost completely disagree.
I liked the length, pace and editing.
The ending wasn't the typical feelgood ending that Hollywood's Crapomatic Script-o-tron 3000 would churn out.
Real life isn't always a neat story that makes sense.
I actually enjoyed seeing worfwess Arek Baldwin say "I LOVE THE PATRIOT ACT!!"
I expected to see Jack steal the show but Leonardo DiCraprio was great.
I didn't think it was gratuitously violent given the characters. IMO it didn't glamorize the mob guys.
There were all kinds of plot points they never really resolved because you could not possibly believe everything the characters said. Like real life it was much more informative to watch what the characters did than what they said.
I don't know if it was Scorsese's best work or not but I thought it was worth the price of matinee admission.
WHAT DID YOU think of Flags of Our Father?
Haven't seen it. Won't see it.
My great uncle was part of that invasion. I know all I need to about it.
After spending a year in Fallujah starting with the recapture of the town in 2004 I can't sit through some war movies anymore and maintain my composure.
I haven't and won't see Blackhawk Down for the same reasons. I understand exactly what went on because I had to write a case study right after it happened while I was an intel analyst. I don't need to see a dramatization of it.
Some of what I saw in The Departed got me wound up and I had bad dreams for a couple nights after, but not like a graphic war movie will get me upset.
Also, I don't think that my sensitivity to certain portrayals has any bearing on how good or bad a movie is.
I wasn't wounded like my dad and the only thing that really bothers me are two things...and it's funny in a way.
#1 Fireworks, especially the loud bright ones where you can feel the thump in your chest. I need a couple of Shiner Blondes around July 4th and New Years... don't know why it just makes me .....uneasy.
#2 Guys at the rifle range or pistol range screwing around with their weapons and generally handling them like pop guns. Pointing the barrel around and covering stuff behind the firing line....generally behaving like Billy Bad Asses.... I'm sure you've seen them. I just quietly pack up and leave ASAP.....but I get physically fearful with fast heartbeat and rapid breathing.... weird, huh.
There were what, 20,000 Japanese on that island? The movie showed three, I think.
The beginning was too long, failed to properly introduce the main characters, was confusing, and looked as though it was shot on a theater stage.
The Navy corpsman was the only one I ended up caring about, even though the Indian got the bulk of screen time.
The movie was The Unforgiven meets The Thin Red Line. Depressing.
I liked it. It was a good solid Scorcese mob movie. Not his best but without the usual "team" (DeNiro, Pesci, and based on a story by Pileggi) I wasn't expecting his best. But it was good. My one big hit on the movie is the soundtrack didn't seem quite up to Scorcese's par, one of the great parts about Goodfellas and Casino (and really most Scorcese movies that take place in roughly modern times) is you can generally tell what's happening as well or better by listening to the music than listening to the script, and he usually takes over songs (I can't hear the piano part of Layla without thinking about the end of Goodfellas). That just didn't happen in Departed, it was a good soundtrack, with good source music placed in fairly well, but I'm used to using the word "great" when discussing Scorcese sountracks so "good" just isn't good enough.
And I liked the ending, that was the right ending. And I loved the length, I get so tired of short movies that never really develop the story or the charcters. Taking the time to fully envelop the viewers into the movie makes better movies.
RE: soundtrack. It's clear Scorcese really loves "Gimme Shelter" by the Stones, which was also featured in Goodfellas as well. Agree, that this soundtrack wasn't great. I absolutely love the piano exit to Layla, which always gets me thinking about Goodfellas -- especially the scene in which Jimmy Conway has consolidated his power by rubbing out the Lufthansa Heist gang.
He really likes the Stones period, with good reason frequently if you want to invoke a certain time in history between 1962 and 1980ish there's probably a Stones song that was big then and is associated with events then. Plus they have clear fairly simple beats that make it easy to cut to the rhythm. If he could have gotten the re-publish rights for the Stones songs in Casino the soundtrack album would have needed a third CD. Yeah it's hard to hear that piano exit and not see in your mind's eye a pink Caddy with two corpses.
Here you go Disco: http://youtube.com/watch?v=AaTgGo0l20c
Ahhh classic American Cinema.
I saw it today and nearly walked out in the middle because it was so boring. This could have been a decent movie, given two or three more rewrites. The ending was rushed and made little sense, especially when the genius hero, who spend months surviving undercover in the mob, suddenly acts like an idiot.
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