charles1624705780 Posted October 13, 2006 Posted October 13, 2006 Just caught Martin Scorsese's "The Departed" at The Cathay. Excellent movie despite its length of 2.5 hrs... I give it 4 out of 5 stars. Jack Nicholson practically stole the whole movie!!! I will be rooting for Jack in the Oscar's Best Supporting Actor category. Leonardo DiCaprio has also matured as an actor and able to go head-to-head with Jack's intense character. Hope he gets a Best Actor nomination at the Oscar's. Sadly, for Matt Damon, his acting is well, just run-of-the-mill Matt Damon... Martin Sheen is so-so also, but I thought Mark Walberg stole some scenes early on in the movie as he taunted DiCaprio on his family background. The only let-down is the psychiatrist lady-role. She looks awful and has no chemistry with either DiCaprio or Matt. Give me Kelly Chen anytime... with Tony Leung of course! Martin Scorsese paid tribute to the original HK movie by replicating (well, almost) the roof top confrontation scene between the 2 undercovers. A pity the Jack Nicholson's threesome scenes were all cut but Matt Damon's bedroom scene was intact. Maybe the censors don't want us to see Jack's naked wrinkly butt... SPOILER ALERT: The ending is different from the original HK Infernal Affairs... there's a twist in the end but you can probably see it coming... anyway, the whole movie is wrapped up nicely... :)
xiao_vin Posted October 14, 2006 Posted October 14, 2006 Scorsese did a great job for this, but overall i still prefer infernal affairs.... i don't like the ending :(
ckng Posted October 14, 2006 Posted October 14, 2006 A well known high end hifi is also featured in this movie, like the Audiospace in Infernal Affairs :P Regards CK
Necrohavoc Posted October 15, 2006 Posted October 15, 2006 Leo DiCaprio and Jack Nicholson were great in this one. It's hardto appreciate the film because I know the story already but I thought the last scene could have been better. *Spoiler Alert* They should have shown what the envelope, which Leo passed to the shrink, contained ..and perhaps that could have led to Mark Wahlberg killing Matt Damon in the end.
Jose Posted October 24, 2006 Posted October 24, 2006 It's a good movie in its own right. But I still prefer infernal affairs. The love story subplot was way too weak and unbelievable bcecause there are no sparks between the psychiatrist and the 2 actors. DeCaprio is the better actor but both of them are too young to portray the emotional turmoil as they begin to question where their loyalty lies. Of cos, Jack Nicholson is great. The whole cops-mafia thing also seems more convincing in HK context. Yeah, i'm also curious what is in the envelope.
InnocentBlood Posted October 25, 2006 Posted October 25, 2006 i do understand that local audiences would find it hard not to compare Departed with Infernal Affairs but if you can take Departed for what it is - a Martin Scorsese movie - you would find that it is an excellent entry in the director's impressive body of work. just watching Jack Nicholson, under Scorsese's direction, burning up the screen with each of his scenes is worth the price of entry alone. it's like watching Pacino and De Niro squaring off each other in Heat ;D the action and suspense is intense. the screenplay and dialogue is snappy filled with memorable lines and once again the use of music is brilliant. this is not the first time that Scorsese is using Gimme Shelter in his movies but each time the song came on in the movie, i couldn't help but just bobbing my head to the song. Comfortably Numb was also used well during the lovemaking scene. personally i felt that Infernal Affairs is one of the best HK movies that i've seen in recent times but i also feel that Departed is really able to stand on its own as a Scorcese movie.
armoury Posted October 25, 2006 Posted October 25, 2006 *Spoiler Alert* They should have shown what the envelope, which Leo passed to the shrink, contained ..and perhaps that could have led to Mark Wahlberg killing Matt Damon in the end. Unnecessary, IMHO. You don't need it explicitly spelt out that Costigan placed enough information/evidence in the envelope to expose Sullivan, and that the envelope made its way to Dignam, just about the only person in the police would who implicitly trust Costigan as a source. Sometimes "less is more".
lonewold_sg Posted October 27, 2006 Posted October 27, 2006 i do understand that local audiences would find it hard not to compare Departed with Infernal Affairs but if you can take Departed for what it is - a Martin Scorsese movie - you would find that it is an excellent entry in the director's impressive body of work. IMO, The Departed is probably one of the worst Martin Scorsee movie I seen in a while. Even without trying to live up to the hype that was Infernal Affairs, I expected something much much more when I heard that Martin was helming the re-shoot. I was pumped and excited and thought that finally we will get a decent re-shoot of an Asian film. Alas, it fell short. Not just from my expectation but from the Martin's usually high standards. You can't say that this was from a novice who doesn't knows how to shoot a mafia film. This was the man that give us Goodfellas and Casino. How could he have gone so wrong with The Departed? I dun know. Maybe he is just losing his touch. just watching Jack Nicholson, under Scorsese's direction, burning up the screen with each of his scenes is worth the price of entry alone. it's like watching Pacino and De Niro squaring off each other in Heat ;D the action and suspense is intense. the screenplay and dialogue is snappy filled with memorable lines and once again the use of music is brilliant. There is no way in hell you can convince me that Jack's performance in the show is better than the Al and Jack show in Heat. Heck its not even close. All I see is an ageing Jack, repeating his tired performance in Batman - without the Joker make-up. personally i felt that Infernal Affairs is one of the best HK movies that i've seen in recent times but i also feel that Departed is really able to stand on its own as a Scorcese movie. I remember the first time I watched Infernal Affairs, I couldn't believe it was a HK movie. The performance, the scripts, the plot and the production value was just superb. I thought it was kinda lame that they were trying to adapt it for Hollywood, knowing that re-make usually fall flat on its face. And I was spot on when I see their comical attempt at 're-enacting' some of the plot elements or conversation from Infernal affairs. The 'you are a cop' conversation just does not work when you put it in a Boston thug environment. Even the 'fill up the form' thingy sounds corny but I can still accept that one. When I heard that Martin and Jack was involved, I was hopeful that it could at least match up to the original. Or at least a decent re-telling or re-interpretation of the show. AI was woefully wrong. I think the performance by Jack, Matt and Leo is nowhere near what Eric, Tony, Anthony and Andy did in the original. Dun get me wrong, while The Departed does not measure up to the original, I think its an above average movie in its own rights. I just dun think these are the best works that I ever seen from Martin, Jack, Leo or Matt as a lot of reviewers seems to suggest. I definitely seen better direction from Martin and better performance from Jack. So overall, I will give this show a 7/10.
Ender1624705735 Posted November 8, 2006 Posted November 8, 2006 i do understand that local audiences would find it hard not to compare Departed with Infernal Affairs but if you can take Departed for what it is - a Martin Scorsese movie - you would find that it is an excellent entry in the director's impressive body of work. just watching Jack Nicholson, under Scorsese's direction, burning up the screen with each of his scenes is worth the price of entry alone. it's like watching Pacino and De Niro squaring off each other in Heat ;D the action and suspense is intense. the screenplay and dialogue is snappy filled with memorable lines and once again the use of music is brilliant. this is not the first time that Scorsese is using Gimme Shelter in his movies but each time the song came on in the movie, i couldn't help but just bobbing my head to the song. Comfortably Numb was also used well during the lovemaking scene. personally i felt that Infernal Affairs is one of the best HK movies that i've seen in recent times but i also feel that Departed is really able to stand on its own as a Scorcese movie. just caught it, I had also had to commend on Scorsese's choice of music. Never thought I would hear Roy Buchanan's instrumental piece of 'Sweet Dreams' in a movie. I felt Dicaprio did a excellent job in this role. I can feel the stress, his frustration and fear..
InnocentBlood Posted November 8, 2006 Posted November 8, 2006 yeah it's good to see that Leo is not just another pretty face - he can prove his worth in a variety of dramatic roles.
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