The Departed

[Mattk]

A gangster movie with Jack Nicholson, Leo DiCaprio, Matt Damon and Mark Wahlberg, amongst others. Leo is a new cop who is sent undercover into the mafia, run by Nicholson. Matt Damon is a mafioso who is a mole in the police. Stuff happens.

It's based almost exactly on a Hong Kong movie, Infernal Affairs which I have seen. The plot is identical, so I've heard. I would really like to see it so as to be able to compare the interpersonal relationships and character development of the Hong Kong and American versions.

[TopGearNL]

Haven't seen it yet, thanks for bringing it up, Ill have a look into it!

[acmarttin]

Yeah, I really want to see that movie! That - and Borat :D

[Mattk]

OK, I finally saw this last week.

To be honest, I preferred the original, if only because there were three movies. The Departed tries to do too much in one movie, which leaves out a lot of important personal development stuff. For instance, the beginning, where Matt and Leo were kids, then cadets, then cops in present time. What occured in a space of minutes was given an entire movie (Infernal Affairs II) in the original trilogy. The ending was rushed, basically trying to accomplish what a full-length movie (Infernal Affairs III) did in 30 seconds. In all, I felt personal development was a bit stifled.

However, that aside, standing alone, this is a good movie. More than good, it is brilliant. Scorcese has never won a Best Film Academy Award and I feel this is his best chance. The screenplay did not waver much from the original, and many of the original's iconic scenes were reproduced with an almost eery sense of exactness. Matt Damon and Leonardo DiCaprio were excellent as the emotionally-tortured cops, each hiding their real self. Nicholson performed better than the gangster boss in the original, as he added an alluring personality to this pivotal role. A stellar support cast including Mark Wahlberg, Martin Sheen, and Alec Baldwin added depth and personality to the film.

Bravo, Scorcese, for a most excellent film and a fantastic adaptation.

[TopGearNL]

Seen it too, I found it pretty interesting and there was good actors in it with strong acting!

I just didn'get the end when Matt Damon got shot :bah:

[ae86_16v]

OK, I finally saw this last week.

To be honest, I preferred the original, if only because there were three movies. The Departed tries to do too much in one movie, which leaves out a lot of important personal development stuff. For instance, the beginning, where Matt and Leo were kids, then cadets, then cops in present time. What occured in a space of minutes was given an entire movie (Infernal Affairs II) in the original trilogy. The ending was rushed, basically trying to accomplish what a full-length movie (Infernal Affairs III) did in 30 seconds. In all, I felt personal development was a bit stifled.

However, that aside, standing alone, this is a good movie. More than good, it is brilliant. Scorcese has never won a Best Film Academy Award and I feel this is his best chance. The screenplay did not waver much from the original, and many of the original's iconic scenes were reproduced with an almost eery sense of exactness. Matt Damon and Leonardo DiCaprio were excellent as the emotionally-tortured cops, each hiding their real self. Nicholson performed better than the gangster boss in the original, as he added an alluring personality to this pivotal role. A stellar support cast including Mark Wahlberg, Martin Sheen, and Alec Baldwin added depth and personality to the film.

Bravo, Scorcese, for a most excellent film and a fantastic adaptation.

Agreed. . . I like the original a lot more too. This one almost takes the original scene by scene, and you are right, it did felt a bit rush.

You know what I did like more in this one, was the character's dialog and script. I felt that they did a better job to this than the original. Did you watch the original Chinese version (Cantonese dialog)? It was okay, but I thought the American one had better dialog.

Jack Nicholson did play a better Boss than the original Chinese guy, he didn't do bad, but I thought Nicholson did it better. Although in Parts II and III in the Chinese ones, you get to see more of The Boss' character.

I think it is worth seeing, but I don't think I would recommend it as "Best Picture". Definitely awesome "Adapted Screen Play", but can't go as far as best picture.

Where as in the chinese one, I would say that is probably The Best movie to come out of Hong Kong in a long time.

http://www.motorworld.net/forum/showthread.php?t=31340

[Mattk]

I felt that they did a better job to this than the original. Did you watch the original Chinese version (Cantonese dialog)?

Yeah, I watched it in Cantonese.

One thing about the dialogue in this movie was that there was a heck of a lot more swearing than in the original ones. Maybe the Hong Kong producers wanted a lower rating. The dialogue did seem to have more depth in the American film, but that's perhaps just my mind playing tricks on me because my English is considerably better than my limited Cantonese knowledge. I liked how Nicholson's narrated monologue set the Boston scene up.

[ae86_16v]

I felt that they did a better job to this than the original. Did you watch the original Chinese version (Cantonese dialog)?

Yeah, I watched it in Cantonese.

One thing about the dialogue in this movie was that there was a heck of a lot more swearing than in the original ones. Maybe the Hong Kong producers wanted a lower rating. The dialogue did seem to have more depth in the American film, but that's perhaps just my mind playing tricks on me because my English is considerably better than my limited Cantonese knowledge. I liked how Nicholson's narrated monologue set the Boston scene up.

Yeah, I think so too. . . definitely more depth in terms of the dialog and script. But then again like we said, earlier, the Chinese version had 3 movies to work with where as here, everything was a bit squeezed in.

The Boss' character really developed in number II in the Chinese version.

[ARMAN]

Very good movie, liked it ALOT as you dont see many movies that are that good every year :) Very entertaning from the start to the end I was glued to the screen cause you never knew what may happen next.
A MUSTSEE for sure.

[blinkmeat]

Meh - 5.5/10 for me

[saadie]

i like it alott!! ...
whoevery liked this movie should also watch lucky number slevin! 8)

[chest3r]

Saw it some hours ago and I'm a bit disappointed :?

It's a really good movie but I thought it was different. I thought we would have a lot of mystery until the end wich didn't happened.

When I hear about a movie and I think the story will be one thing and then I see the movie and it's a bit different I get a bit disappointed. It happened with The Departed and exactly the same with The Illusionist :?

[Firdosh7747]

that movie was shot in my city - Boston

[ae86_16v]

Saw it some hours ago and I'm a bit disappointed :?

It's a really good movie but I thought it was different. I thought we would have a lot of mystery until the end wich didn't happened.

When I hear about a movie and I think the story will be one thing and then I see the movie and it's a bit different I get a bit disappointed. It happened with The Departed and exactly the same with The Illusionist :?

They didn't have time to do everything I guess. The original Chinese version had 3 stories/movies to expand it.

[Mers]

Scorsese announced he's gonna do another 2...so that'll be cool

[Mattk]

^What? Really? But he's closed off all possible plot advancements in this film, unless Matt Damon rises from the dead.

[Mers]

^What? Really? But he's closed off all possible plot advancements in this film, unless Matt Damon rises from the dead.

Probably doing prequels or sth...

Anyways it's the first time he's directed a sequel to one of his movies (2 in this case, i guess), so pretty cool

[TopGearNL]

^What? Really? But he's closed off all possible plot advancements in this film, unless Matt Damon rises from the dead.

Yeah weird, so presumably he survived :?

[Mattk]

^Yeah, that's possible, because his equivalent in the original movies actually survives in the end.

However, I'm not entirely convinced there are going to be any more movies. The Departed just seemed to finish off too neatly. Furthermore, there were too many elements of the second and third movies of the original stuffed in to suggest that future ventures were in the offer.

[Mattk]

^Comparing DiCaprio's performance here to his performance in Gangs of New York (a similar sort of tortured soul role), he's definitely taken a step up. He's 100% better than he was when he made that horrible movie Titanic

[ae86_16v]

No doubt that DiCaprio's recent performances in The Departed and Blood Diamonds stepped it up compared to his previous roles. But still over all, the Infernal Affair's Trilogy was better composed.