Film Illiterate, wherein the proprietor records movies seen, and sporadic progress through assorted lists of the "best". Originally started after regretfully renting something forgettable for the third time. I've forgotten what, but never again! A tedious endeavour since 2005. Hello. 🙂
Having seen Infernal Affairs, Martin Scorsese's remake The Departed was strangely disappointing. "Strangely" because, in many ways, it was obviously superior. As a technical achievement -- in terms of its editing, its cinematography, its magnificently detailed set-pieces -- there's simply no contest. The leads gave uniformly stellar performance, and even the minor characters were dazzling. You know you've got something remarkable when the likes of Alec Baldwin and Mark Wahlberg are good enough in their roles to be highlights.
Engaging as The Departed was, I'm intrigued by the thrust of Walter Chaw's review, where he describes it as "a difficult meal that goes down in a rush of extraordinarily tasty technical proficiency while leaving a genuinely vile aftertaste. It's not about emptiness, it's an example of it."
I wish I could disagree, but it's true. From Scorsese's comment that this is his "B-movie", and his producer's suggestion that they wanted money this time, not art; to Jack Nicholson's bizarre theatrics; and to the new moralistic-nihilistic ending, all signs point to cinema that is all surface.
The plot is still gripping, though less taut than in Infernal Affairs, only two thirds the length, but thematically it just doesn't work. You're better off with the original.