Hi everyone... By now you've read Leather Lass' opinion of Martin Scorsese's latest crime-and-punishment opera of violence. Now it's reader Dougie's turn to share the Scorsese Love with you. Take it away, Dougie!
With films like Accepted, Click, Little Miss Sunshine, Talladega Nights, The Children Of Men and The Devil Wears Prada all having a lot of daily showings at my local cinema, I didn't think it would be too difficult to get a couple tickets for Martin Scorsese's The Departed. Boy was I wrong. I was three people away from the ticket desk, when a rather large girl dressed in black and marroon leaned over the desk, bellowing the bad news "The 8:15 screening of The Departed is now sold out". Luckily, there was one showing left this evening, I bought my tickets, and headed to the pub until the screen was opened.
I really honestly didn't expect such a big turn out for Scorsese. I recall going to see The Aviator and Gangs of New York on their opening night, and there not being nearly as big a crowd as this ( I found out the 9:20 showing I had tickets for also sold out). I guess word was getting around that this film was supposed to be his return to Casino, Goodfellas and Taxi Driver form.
Firstly, the trailers. Saw 3, Tenacious D: The Pick Of Destiny, and Casino Royale. The third in the Saw series promises to amp up the gore and violence from the second one, in the same way the second one promised to 'better' the first. I will probably end up seeing this, but the Saw films always seem to be very contrived, always pushing for easy scares instead of actually doing anything with the audience. Tenacious D's new trailer is just awesome, I guess it's depicting the first meeting of Jack Black and Kyle Gass, and everything about looks fun. I like watching movies where you can see that the actors and actresses are having fun, and I'm really looking forward to this. I can't say the same for Casino Royle however. I still don't think it's the right Bond, I don't think Casino Royale should be the movie, and I don't really like the theme song either, Nina.
"What about The Departed?" I hear you scream, silently, in your mind. Good question. Personally, I loved it. It's very long (just under 3 hours) and could really do with an intermission, but not a single frame of the movie should be cut to bring the movie into a more comfortable watch. The film follows Billy Costigan ( Leo DiCaprio) and Colin Sullivan (Matt Damon [done in the Team America voice]). They're both working for the Boston Police, and the mafia, and trying to discover who the other one is. This certainly isn't a story you can skip in and out of, if you miss a couple minutes, you'll be totally confused. Both Leo and Matt do excellent jobs in their roles, and I think I only caught Damon out of accent once, and was just barely.
Although the film is really Billy and Colin's story, the film is about Frank Costello, the Irish mafia boss, played perfectly by Jack Nicholson. I tend to feel Jack's acting has been hit or miss recently, for every About Schimdt or The Shining, there's a Mars Attacks! or an Anger Management. Following Costello's accellerating descent into madness is absolutley immersive, all aspects of the outside world fade away as Nicholson constantly steals scenes, with anything from a lift of an eyebrow, to a usually very quick, very witty monologue. Nicholson's character gets 90% of the best lines in the script, and not a single word is wasted.
Most of the other cast nail their performances too, and I only really felt Alec Baldwin was kind of phoning it in on this one. Martin Sheen and Mark Wahlberg on the hand, have this great chemistry between them shows through in the fake father-son relationship their characters share.
Although every single second of every shot is just perfect, about half way through the film, a nervous chase takes place between Billy and Colin in the backstreets of Chinatown. For some reason, this causes a shift in things, as the great cinematography raises up to a new art form, with gorgeous results.
As I said, the film is long, and can get a bit slow and trail at times, but putting an intermission halfway through would solve that problem, and give you the chance to re-enact conversations from the film. The soundtrack keeps rocking throughout the movie, a great sign that shows Scorsese hasn't lost his touch.
So the big question about the departed, is, of course, whether it will earn Scorsese that Oscar that's been snatched out his hands oh so many times. And honestly, I think it might. Tthe film isn't quite as good as classic Scorsese, but its a damn good film and easily on par, at least, to anything else suspected to be nominated for that prestigious Acadamy Award. Although entirely deserving, a Lifetime Acheivement Award just isn't enough, and with Scorsese admitting recently that he may only work on a few more projects before throwing in the towel, its about time the man was recognised.
I give The Departed five stars, but just hope when you go to see it it's a bit less busy, so you can relax in your seat.
