Hey folks, Harry here... I want to fucking see this NOW!!! The trailer had me foaming at the mouth - now I'm foaming at the ass... rabid through and through to see this one! The problems that LethalH20 had with the film sound like the exact sort of things that Scorsese will have no problems fixing with either music or timing tweaks. And they seem very slight to this reviewer - cuz he seems to have just gone gaga for the flick. Hopefully the film will get through the MPAA with minimal casualties. Here ya go - watch out for spoilers...
Hello all,
I'm a huge fan of the site and thought it would be an appropriate time to submit my first film review. On August 9th in Edgewater, NJ, I was witness to probably the best film I have seen all year. The film is question is The Departed directed by Martin Scorsese and starring Jack Nicholson, Matt Damon, Leonardo DiCaprio, with smaller parts by Martin Sheen, Alec Baldwin, Mark Wahlberg and Anthony Andersen.
First off the good:
The film is really something else. The acting and directing are all top notch (what else would you expect, honestly?) The film is decidely very un-Scorsese like. While it is an intense film for the most part, there are tons of laugh out loud moments usually courtesy of Nicholson, Baldwin, or Wahlberg. These 3 get to ham it up completely, especially Wahlberg who comes really close to being completely over the top with his Boston accent and tough cop routine.
The action is also quite remarkable. The cut I saw was unrated but I say its safe to assume that they are going to have to do alot of editing to get an R rating. The violence protrayed is brutal and in your face. People are shot in the head from point blank range with blood splatting in every direction. Fortunately, it's presented in a very realistic sense, not at all cartoonish like in Kill Bill.
The best performances in the film belong to Jackie boy and DiCaprio. Jack protrays "Frank" who is part of the mob in Boston. He is completely charismatic, likeable, and COMPLETELY insane. This is a man with no regards to human life, yet he's completely likeable, like a crazy uncle or something. Jack really gets to cut lose and be a nut case.
As for DiCaprio, he plays William, a wannabe cop, who due to his family having a very shady past, is picked to infiltrate Frank's mafia, in hopes of ultimately bringing Frank down. This was the toughest part in the film and DiCaprio really pulls it off well. Throughout the film you get to see and feel is slow descent into madness as he is really a good guy but is stuck in a world full of crime and violence.
Next the bad:
The film was a rough cut (as we were all warned before the film started), so there were some small issues. There were some cutback and flashback sequences that didin't really work all that well. It kind of threw the chronological pacing of the film off. I guess with some editing this can be fixed, or at least I hope so.
Also there were some, what I'd like to call, "Wes Anderson" moments, where a character would speak in reference to an object and the film would cut to a quick picture of that object. It felt like a cop-out of sorts or trying to dumb down the film.
Other then that the film was spectacular. Hopefully they can tighten up some of the loose sequences and get rid of some of the flashbacks that don't really work.
If you use this, call me Lethalh20.
