Infernel Boston Affairs.
Starring: Jack Nicholson, Matt Damon and Leonardo DiCaprio. Directed by: Martin Scorsese.
Screenplay by: William Monahan.
Oh my god. Here we go. One more time Academy is lagging far behind to praise someone's talent. This time this 'lag' is the only thing that is going to get Mr. Martin Scorsese an Oscar nod. Not his movie The Departed.
The Departed is about two undercover employees. Undercover cop Billy Costigan (Leonardo DiCaprio) breaching in Frank Costello's (Jack Nicholson) gang while Frank has sent Colin Sullivan (Matt Demon), whom he trained since his childhood, to become a Boston state detective. Soon enough Frank and the Boston police department know about these two respective rats and then begins the search of who is who.
Adapted from Hong Kong action flick Infernel Affairs (2002) this is a pretty fast paced crime drama with lots of blood and extensive language which was good to see in a movie other than SAW franchise. I have not seen the original but seems like Departed has picked up the ambiance decently. Story is quite interesting showing two sides of the same job of being undercover. Screenplay is quite humoristic with some punch lines. For instance 'a cop or a mafia when facing a gun, whats the difference?'.
Acting department is highly creditable. Mr Nicholson is quite brutal and ruthless. His ability to make the characters he plays more interesting is still quite evident. Damon perhaps pulls the best performance. DiCaprio is also convincing in the portrayal of the undercover cop. Alec Baldwin, Martin Sheen and Mark Wahlberg are short lived but memorable.
The problem is that in the beginning the movie is quite slow. It took almost an hour during the "who's the rat?" search when it became interesting. The screenplay makes an honest attempt to keep you glued in the first few minutes but I was waiting for Mr Scorsese to pull some of his classic tricks to create accurate picture of the character's feelings on the actor's face. But the wait was broken by Mr Monahan when he wrote some dialogues and put in the character's mouth. The screenplay is witty but at the same time its tempted to be commercial by its strong language usage. May be perhaps that's the reason Departed has been approved by masses. Not necessarily it has any reason to do so. But yes this time it feels like Mr Scorsese will finally win the statuette and shut all the media activity surrounding his zero Oscars. Unfortunately Academy missed him during Taxi Driver (1976) and Raging Bull (1980). Even though Mr Scorsese did make homages to his own cult classic Taxi Driver twice. The stick-up scene in the convenient store and the porno theatre reminded Travis Bickle and his mystic smile.
One thing very refreshing during the movie was the use of Comfortably Numb by Pink Floyd. It actually fits to the situation between DiCaprio and Vera Farmiga. The ending minutes of the movie not necessarily have justifying explanations. What happened to DiCaprio's envelope that he gave to Farmiga? Only assumptions will give the answer.
My Rating: 6/10.
