Page 1 of The Departed

Just came back from seeing this, haven`t seen Infernal Affairs so can`t compare it.

Thought it was OK. Don`t want to spoil it for anyone, thought 1st hr was great, then was a bit dull, then picked up towards the end. 7/10

Everyones acting was very good, and the violence was typical Scorcese greatness, just left the cinema feeling that I hadn`t enjoyed it as much as I had hoped when I saw the cast and the trailer for it.

Al

p.s 1 thing II have noticed isnormally ppl moan about hollywood doing remakes etc, but I haven`t seen the usual "oh you don`t want to see the hollywood bastardised version of it you have to see the original to truelly appreciate the greatness blah blah". regdaless of whether ppl have seen the remake.

I guess `cos it`s Scorcese he`s allowed to ;)

This item was edited on Friday, 6th October 2006, 17:25

I`ve seen Infernal Affairs and plan on going to see The Departed this weekend after all hte hype.

The thing is I`ve heard that the best thing about the film is how clever the plot is, but because I`ve seen the original I`m not sure what I`ll think. Wasn`t overly impressed with the trailer and the other thing that`s been said is that Scorcese has only used the story idea but not remade the film, but every scene I can remember on the trailer was an exact recreation of the original.

I`ve only seen good reviews though so hopefully will be a good watch. Will give my opinion between the two tomorrow if i manage to get to the early afternoon showing if I`m not too hungover ;) Can`t make the others because they will clash with the England game.

My DVD collection

"Looks like I picked the wrong day to stop sniffing glue."

This item was edited on Friday, 6th October 2006, 17:44

I thought it was fantastic :D

Just a really great 2 1/2 hour film. Not once was I bored, not once was I not involved. From the very beginning I was thrilled (of course, it helps that I haven`t seen the HK original).

The performances are phenomenal and everyone is at the top of their game. Scorsese looks to have given up trying to impress the Academy, and I think it works for the better. This is a film with very few stylistic visuals (although when they`re used, boy do they work!). Although to be completely honest, the best thing about the film is William Monahan`s script, which is intense, fast, smart and surprisingly funny at times.

I think I loved this film and will definitely watch it again on DVD (or will that be HD-DVD??? :/ ).

Having seen Infernal Affairs twice when it was released at the cinema and after watching The Departed this afternoon, I personally think that whilst The Departed stands head and shoulders above the usual dross hollywood churns out (especially in the form of remakes) it is a pale comparison to Infernal Affairs. I enjoyed the enlarged `Boss` character given to Jack Nicholson and the change of setting to Boston (I think?) is handeled incredibly well, the acting and direction are also great but that was to be expected. Unfortunately I thought the film felt marginally too long and I some of the changes to the plot seemed only to make it more confusing than it should have been.


That`s the saltiest thing I ever tasted, and I once ate a big heaping bowl of salt.

Having seen and liked the Infernal Affairs Trilogy i was looking forward to this. There was lots to like & lots to dislike i thought.
I didn`t like Maaaat Daaaaaamoooon, he just isn`t right, should`ve been Mark Whalberg playing his part. Jack Nicholson was very OTT & not in a good way. Everyone else in it was very good, Alec Baldwin & Mark(y mark) were great. Oh & Ray Winstones accent was bad, why couldn`t have been English? Plus i actualy thought the violence was a bit OTT as well. It didn`t need to be that violent.
I agree with the first summary on here. Its good for about an hour, drags, has a really goodgunfight, then drags some more, then has a very good ending.
Overall i`d give this:
7/10

I saw Children of Men as well & that was overall better.

You say pyscho like its a bad thing

Just got back from seeing it now, have to agree with 555 and The3rd that Infernal Affairs was better.

As above I agree it`s a very good film, but personally I prefer Infernal Affairs. I agree that it was a bit too long and some of the plot changes seemed unnecessary. I think people who have seen both films will also agree that the best scenes from The Departed are the ones that were taken straight from Infernal Affairs.

Saying that though, I havn`t been able to convince anyone to watch Infernal Affairs for the past 2/3years because of everyone`s fear of subtitles :/ Of all the foriegn films I thought this would be the one I would be able to convince them to watch, apart from City of God. The worst thing is they liked City of God and then when I`ve said watch this if you didn`t mind the subtitles on that they have refused. Their loss I suppose. ;)

I`ve never got around to watching Infernal Affairs 3 because I used to only order about 4/5 dvd`s at a time from dddhouse to make it worthwhile, but havn`t made an order in a couple of years. It`s out on UK dvd now though (I think) so might see if I can pick it up here, unless anyone can recommend me some decent Japanese/ Korean films worth picking up because it only works out 3/4quid a dvd when I order a few from there?

Back to The Departed, I thought the acting was good from everyone, Mark Wahlberg`s character was the standout for me although usually I don`t like over the top characters in films.

My DVD collection

"Looks like I picked the wrong day to stop sniffing glue."

This item was edited on Tuesday, 10th October 2006, 23:17

If anyone hasn`t seen the original Infernal Affairs or like me hasn`t bought it, HMV has the whole Trilogy for £17.99

I know that this is probably suited for the Bargain Buckets forum but it seems more topical here.


That`s the saltiest thing I ever tasted, and I once ate a big heaping bowl of salt.

Having seen `Infernal Affairs` many times and only two days before watching `The Departed`, I spent the first hour trying to distance the two. However, once the second act began and the extra intrigue and depth was introduced then I practically forgot about `Infernal Affairs` and was able to judge `The Departed` as a stand-alone film until the very end.

I don`t believe that Scorsese cares about the Academy any more (if you`re not gonna win with `Raging Bull`, you`re not going to win!) and it seems that he gave himself freedom with the violence and language. 555 - this was a Scorsese film about gangsters, what did you expect as regards violence - gangsters to attack each other with feather dusters? Haven`t you seen `Casino` or `Goodfellas`?

Anyway, I thought `The Departed` was an extremely accomplished film with another excellent performance from DiCaprio following that in `The Aviator` and Mark Wahlberg stealing every scene he was in. Jack Nicholson was just Jack Nicholson and, as Chewie said, William Monahan`s script was superb. It`s not up there with the best of Scorsese, but it`s probably the best film I`ve seen at the cinema this year and a definite DVD purchase.

David Beckett

Agree with everything you`ve said David. It really does distance itself from the original to a huge extent, scraping only the bare bones of the plot along with it. It really isn`t worth comparing them; my fiance asked how different it was and it was a case of `where do I start?`

Overall, this is a better made film, I don`t think anyone can deny that. Along with Monahan`s writing, Scorsese reminds us just how good he still is. DiCaprio is excellent yet again, and as has been said, Wahlberg was a real scene stealer.

Quote:
Its good for about an hour, drags, has a really goodgunfight, then drags some more, then has a very good ending. You should work for Empire.

This item was edited on Wednesday, 11th October 2006, 11:11

Quote:
I don`t believe that Scorsese cares about the Academy any more

Speaking of which, so far Nicholson hasn`t won an oscar this decade, every decade since the 70s, Jack has one an Oscar, in the 70s it was One Flew Over The Cuckoos Nest, the 80s it was Terms of Endierment, in the 90s it was As Good as it Gets.

Could Jack be slipping?

floyd