The Departed

Tuesday, October 10, 2006

Its been a while since i’ve posted a movie review here, primarily because most of the movies i’ve seen recently have been mediocre at best (with the exception of Little Miss Sunshine, which I thought was great, but never got around to commenting soon, and which I would give 4 out of 5 Dinostars).

Martin Scorcese’s recent films have been so so. I’ve missed his criminal genre of filmmaking which he basically defined with Goodfellas in the 1990. Gangs of New York was decent, but I didn’t feel it was vintage Scorcese. With The Departed, however, he is back and better than ever.

The Departed is based on the Hong Kong film Infernal Affairs, which is a great movie itself. Scorcese has incorporated many elements from that film into his movie, and has made it even better in some aspects. The Departed is violent and vulgar, like most of Scorcese’s mobster/gang/underworld movies, yet it has its moments of humor which would normally be out of place in a film of this type, but works really well here. Matt Damon, Leo DiCaprio, and Jack Nicholson as a psycho mob boss are all wonderful in their lead roles, and it has a good supporting cast.

I could go on, but sites like Aint It Cool and CHUD have more in-depth reviews, so you’re better off reading those. And if you haven’t seen Infernal Affairs, I would recommend seeing it after this movie. If you have seen it, then you’ll enjoy this. Either way, I absoutely recommend it!

5 out of 5 Dinostars.