Post by Pulpmariachi on Oct 6, 2006 18:59:33 GMT -5
Let me start this whole thing off by saying Martin Scorsese's "The Departed" is insane. I was blown to the back of my seat and even after the credits had finished rolling I wasn't able to move (though I had to because the bus was coming and the next one wasn't going to arrive for another hour).
Now, I haven't seen "Infernal Affairs", but reading comparisons, the critics seem to either say this film is superior or inferior to the original, though nearly all of them agree it is a great work. I would have to venture to guess that "The Departed" is a very loose adaptation because from frame one it is a very Scorsese film.
The storyline, for those who are still in the dark, is about rats, and by rats I'm not referring to the animals, but as in moles, which I'm also not referring to as animals, but as INFORMERS. The crime boss has his rat in the police force and the coppers have their own rat in the crime boss's gang.
And the film is insane.
I'm not kidding.
Scorsese has gone back to his turf, to the films only he can make and have them released as serious artwork. In the past years there've been other people who tried to imitate him, like, oh I don't know...a certain hack filmmaker from Tennessee (not naming any names) who thinks he's the one who invented the gangster/bloodandgore genre. Scorsese's done this enough that he knows what works, how to settle into it, and the amazing thing is that he still makes it interesting. Capitvating. Sweaty-palms inducing.
The tension is incredible and much like "GoodFellas", it begins right away, with Jack Nicholson (also returning to form as a villain, something that he knows inside and out, and he's always able to scare the snot out of me), silhoutted, and babbling something about how the world is twisted. We meet Colin Sullivan (Matt Damon) and Billy Costigan (Leonard DiCaprio), who are both training to become cops. Damon's character rises in the ranks until he's given the task of finding himself. DiCaprio goes undercover, rising within Nicholson's own ranks. So there's this whole thing where they're feeding information off-and-on each other, back-and-forth. Often times you don't know who is going to come out in the end.
Thelma Schoonemaker is Scorsese's Michael Kahn, and along with him keeps the film moving briskly, fast. Whenever anyone else says that you don't feel the 2-and-a-half hours flash by wasn't kidding. Of course, Scorsese has the ability to draw you into his worlds so much that you don't want to look away, and can't really. Scorsese's cinematographer from "GoodFellas" returns and we get the low-angled, dirty, but still somehow epic feeling once more. And then the rock-and-roll soundtrack that permeates throughout the picture only adds to everything. And then, Scorsese has been using music to enhance his films since "Mean Streets", before either Wes or PT Anderson, before our Tennesse 'friend', before, well, anyone else who uses music as much as he did.
Damon turns away from the good-guy kind of role he's known for and gives a great performance. Leonardo DiCaprio gives his best performance to date, there's no flases back to "Hey, that Jack is kinda cute." I could say this, but then you have to go back and think, "Well, what Scorsese picture doesn't have great performances?"
He's one of our greatest directors for a reason.
And it is his movie all the way. Despite the great cast, the great technical stuff, it is a Scorsese movie from start to finish. And no one else could've pulled off something like this (again).
The film is bloody, but usually Scorsese movies are. The characters swear, are racist, homophobic, anti-pretty much everything, and despite them being generally bastards you still get wrapped up in them. Things slow down a bit at the end, but then pick up immediatley, leaving the viewer shocked. But still, it's great seeing Scorsese going back to his roots instead of doing historical epics or biographies (albeit, they're pretty good too).
It's creepy, nailbiting, violent, and profane. Like emo kids wear thier hearts on their sleeves, this film wears it's R-rating high and proud.
A.
Now, I haven't seen "Infernal Affairs", but reading comparisons, the critics seem to either say this film is superior or inferior to the original, though nearly all of them agree it is a great work. I would have to venture to guess that "The Departed" is a very loose adaptation because from frame one it is a very Scorsese film.
The storyline, for those who are still in the dark, is about rats, and by rats I'm not referring to the animals, but as in moles, which I'm also not referring to as animals, but as INFORMERS. The crime boss has his rat in the police force and the coppers have their own rat in the crime boss's gang.
And the film is insane.
I'm not kidding.
Scorsese has gone back to his turf, to the films only he can make and have them released as serious artwork. In the past years there've been other people who tried to imitate him, like, oh I don't know...a certain hack filmmaker from Tennessee (not naming any names) who thinks he's the one who invented the gangster/bloodandgore genre. Scorsese's done this enough that he knows what works, how to settle into it, and the amazing thing is that he still makes it interesting. Capitvating. Sweaty-palms inducing.
The tension is incredible and much like "GoodFellas", it begins right away, with Jack Nicholson (also returning to form as a villain, something that he knows inside and out, and he's always able to scare the snot out of me), silhoutted, and babbling something about how the world is twisted. We meet Colin Sullivan (Matt Damon) and Billy Costigan (Leonard DiCaprio), who are both training to become cops. Damon's character rises in the ranks until he's given the task of finding himself. DiCaprio goes undercover, rising within Nicholson's own ranks. So there's this whole thing where they're feeding information off-and-on each other, back-and-forth. Often times you don't know who is going to come out in the end.
Thelma Schoonemaker is Scorsese's Michael Kahn, and along with him keeps the film moving briskly, fast. Whenever anyone else says that you don't feel the 2-and-a-half hours flash by wasn't kidding. Of course, Scorsese has the ability to draw you into his worlds so much that you don't want to look away, and can't really. Scorsese's cinematographer from "GoodFellas" returns and we get the low-angled, dirty, but still somehow epic feeling once more. And then the rock-and-roll soundtrack that permeates throughout the picture only adds to everything. And then, Scorsese has been using music to enhance his films since "Mean Streets", before either Wes or PT Anderson, before our Tennesse 'friend', before, well, anyone else who uses music as much as he did.
Damon turns away from the good-guy kind of role he's known for and gives a great performance. Leonardo DiCaprio gives his best performance to date, there's no flases back to "Hey, that Jack is kinda cute." I could say this, but then you have to go back and think, "Well, what Scorsese picture doesn't have great performances?"
He's one of our greatest directors for a reason.
And it is his movie all the way. Despite the great cast, the great technical stuff, it is a Scorsese movie from start to finish. And no one else could've pulled off something like this (again).
The film is bloody, but usually Scorsese movies are. The characters swear, are racist, homophobic, anti-pretty much everything, and despite them being generally bastards you still get wrapped up in them. Things slow down a bit at the end, but then pick up immediatley, leaving the viewer shocked. But still, it's great seeing Scorsese going back to his roots instead of doing historical epics or biographies (albeit, they're pretty good too).
It's creepy, nailbiting, violent, and profane. Like emo kids wear thier hearts on their sleeves, this film wears it's R-rating high and proud.
A.
