"When I was your age, they would say you could become cops or criminals. What I'm saying is this: when you're facing a loaded gun, what's the difference?"
It's out in 6 days, and somebody had to do it! Scorsese's latest has rocketed from completely off my radar to my most anticipated film of the year in recent weeks, after the uniformly positive buzz and advance reviews started to leak. And yes, we're all aware this is a remake of Infernal Affairs, so there is no need to remind us again within this thread.
=========================================================
The Departed (Scorsese, 2006)
Release Date: October 6th, 2006
Synopsis: Two men from opposite sides of the law are undercover within the Boston State Police department and the Irish mafia, but violence and bloodshed boil when discoveries are made, and the moles are dispatched to find out their enemy's identities.
Cast:
Leonardo DiCaprio .... Billy Costigan
Matt Damon .... Colin Sullivan
Jack Nicholson .... Frank Costello
Mark Wahlberg .... Dignam
Martin Sheen .... Oliver Queenan
Vera Farmiga .... Madolyn
Alec Baldwin .... Ellerby
Crew:
Martin Scorsese .... Director
William Monahan .... Writer
Howard Shore .... Composer
Michael Ballhaus .... Cinematographer
Thelma Schoonmaker .... Editor
Trailer: http://www.apple.com/trailers/wb/thedeparted/hd/
Reviews: http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/departed/ (Tomatometer currently at 100%)
Cinema Blend -
"It's driven by great performances, which Marty gets from every member of his cast. DiCaprio is desperate and tortured as Costigan, and Damon shines as the stiff and sometimes pompous turncoat Colin. Nicholson does his usual, which means he steals every scene he's in. He's charming even when he's blowing a guy's brain out of his ear."
"Scorsese remains a master, and he's working his finest magic here. He refuses to fall into the usual pitfalls of the gangster drama, and continues to find completely new nuances in genres that others have already mined nearly to death. Cops versus killers has been done to the point of improbability, but in front of Marty's lens it's a brand new game."
Emanuel Levy -
"Its a pleasure to report that "The Departed," the gritty crime-gangster drama, is Martin Scorseses best film since the 1990 GoodFellas"."
"Duplicity and deceit are manifest in Scorseses film, but, thematically, borrowing from noir, The Departed is soaked with the logic of a well-constructed crime melodrama (in the positive sense of the term) and the fatalism of a tragedy, focusing on the postmodern issue of identity, namely, what constitutes identity(a fluid concept to begin with), and what happens when people depart from what they really should be doing, instead playing roles allotted to them by social agencies. In this film, Scorsese takes the crime-gangster genre and turns it into something different, more compelling and original. The uniquely American story involves the Irish underworld, the police force and the corruption, within and without that agency, which make the tale more relevant. The film's depiction of the characters and their attitudes toward the world, in both its public and personal domains, is uncompromising."
Rolling Stone -
"William Monahan's stinging script, a revelation after his murky meandering in last year's Kingdom of Heaven, transfers the plot of the terrific 2002 Hong Kong thriller Infernal Affairs to his native Boston so he can drill down to its depraved core. This is vital, visceral filmmaking."
"The violence? Most of it is saved for the film's final act, where it's enough to give you whiplash. Scorsese correctly refuses to go wussy on the corruption that extends from Costello's nest of vipers to the State House, whose gold dome Colin sees from the window of his chic apartment on Beacon Hill. Damon, building on his no-bull turns in Syriana and the two Bourne films, brings a coiled-spring intensity to Colin, whose double life is taking its toll (for one thing, he's often impotent). Scorsese allows telling glimpses of the child in these men. Colin dreads betrayal by Costello, the thug who filled his scrawny twelve-year-old arms with groceries and made him his slave. Billy uses drugs to numb his fear but can't find anything -- family, friend, lover, church, government -- to trust. DiCaprio does himself proud in a risky role that stabs at the heart as Billy's bravado loses the battle to his jangling nerves. Though DiCaprio and Damon share only one big scene, their climactic rooftop face-off reflects the film's bleak view of a world where nothing is held sacred."
Variety -
"Mixing it up with modern mobsters for the first time since "Casino" 11 years ago, Martin Scorsese cooks up a juicy and bloody steak of a movie in "The Departed." Different from the director's earlier crime dramas in its shared focus on cops rather than on just the goodfellas, this reworking of a popular Hong Kong picture pulses with energy, tangy dialogue and crackling performances from a fine cast, combining to give Warner Bros. a winning hand commercially in all markets."
"Operating a bit closer to terra firma, DiCaprio is outstanding as the audience's main point of emotional contact, a man gravely at risk every moment of his life (one minor issue is an uncertainty over how much time the main action encompasses). In his third collaboration with Scorsese, DiCaprio has rarely been this vital, energized or passionate. Damon delivers impressively as well. Thesp's receding boyish qualities merge well with the role, just as a hint of his Jason Bourne hardness adds the necessary ruthless edge to the repellently interesting character. Supporting cast is sparkling down the line, led by Wahlberg, who steals every base on the field and takes them home."
=========================================================
That just about wraps things up. Day one!
It's out in 6 days, and somebody had to do it! Scorsese's latest has rocketed from completely off my radar to my most anticipated film of the year in recent weeks, after the uniformly positive buzz and advance reviews started to leak. And yes, we're all aware this is a remake of Infernal Affairs, so there is no need to remind us again within this thread.
=========================================================
The Departed (Scorsese, 2006)
Release Date: October 6th, 2006
Synopsis: Two men from opposite sides of the law are undercover within the Boston State Police department and the Irish mafia, but violence and bloodshed boil when discoveries are made, and the moles are dispatched to find out their enemy's identities.
Cast:
Leonardo DiCaprio .... Billy Costigan
Matt Damon .... Colin Sullivan
Jack Nicholson .... Frank Costello
Mark Wahlberg .... Dignam
Martin Sheen .... Oliver Queenan
Vera Farmiga .... Madolyn
Alec Baldwin .... Ellerby
Crew:
Martin Scorsese .... Director
William Monahan .... Writer
Howard Shore .... Composer
Michael Ballhaus .... Cinematographer
Thelma Schoonmaker .... Editor
Trailer: http://www.apple.com/trailers/wb/thedeparted/hd/
Reviews: http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/departed/ (Tomatometer currently at 100%)
Cinema Blend -
"It's driven by great performances, which Marty gets from every member of his cast. DiCaprio is desperate and tortured as Costigan, and Damon shines as the stiff and sometimes pompous turncoat Colin. Nicholson does his usual, which means he steals every scene he's in. He's charming even when he's blowing a guy's brain out of his ear."
"Scorsese remains a master, and he's working his finest magic here. He refuses to fall into the usual pitfalls of the gangster drama, and continues to find completely new nuances in genres that others have already mined nearly to death. Cops versus killers has been done to the point of improbability, but in front of Marty's lens it's a brand new game."
Emanuel Levy -
"Its a pleasure to report that "The Departed," the gritty crime-gangster drama, is Martin Scorseses best film since the 1990 GoodFellas"."
"Duplicity and deceit are manifest in Scorseses film, but, thematically, borrowing from noir, The Departed is soaked with the logic of a well-constructed crime melodrama (in the positive sense of the term) and the fatalism of a tragedy, focusing on the postmodern issue of identity, namely, what constitutes identity(a fluid concept to begin with), and what happens when people depart from what they really should be doing, instead playing roles allotted to them by social agencies. In this film, Scorsese takes the crime-gangster genre and turns it into something different, more compelling and original. The uniquely American story involves the Irish underworld, the police force and the corruption, within and without that agency, which make the tale more relevant. The film's depiction of the characters and their attitudes toward the world, in both its public and personal domains, is uncompromising."
Rolling Stone -
"William Monahan's stinging script, a revelation after his murky meandering in last year's Kingdom of Heaven, transfers the plot of the terrific 2002 Hong Kong thriller Infernal Affairs to his native Boston so he can drill down to its depraved core. This is vital, visceral filmmaking."
"The violence? Most of it is saved for the film's final act, where it's enough to give you whiplash. Scorsese correctly refuses to go wussy on the corruption that extends from Costello's nest of vipers to the State House, whose gold dome Colin sees from the window of his chic apartment on Beacon Hill. Damon, building on his no-bull turns in Syriana and the two Bourne films, brings a coiled-spring intensity to Colin, whose double life is taking its toll (for one thing, he's often impotent). Scorsese allows telling glimpses of the child in these men. Colin dreads betrayal by Costello, the thug who filled his scrawny twelve-year-old arms with groceries and made him his slave. Billy uses drugs to numb his fear but can't find anything -- family, friend, lover, church, government -- to trust. DiCaprio does himself proud in a risky role that stabs at the heart as Billy's bravado loses the battle to his jangling nerves. Though DiCaprio and Damon share only one big scene, their climactic rooftop face-off reflects the film's bleak view of a world where nothing is held sacred."
Variety -
"Mixing it up with modern mobsters for the first time since "Casino" 11 years ago, Martin Scorsese cooks up a juicy and bloody steak of a movie in "The Departed." Different from the director's earlier crime dramas in its shared focus on cops rather than on just the goodfellas, this reworking of a popular Hong Kong picture pulses with energy, tangy dialogue and crackling performances from a fine cast, combining to give Warner Bros. a winning hand commercially in all markets."
"Operating a bit closer to terra firma, DiCaprio is outstanding as the audience's main point of emotional contact, a man gravely at risk every moment of his life (one minor issue is an uncertainty over how much time the main action encompasses). In his third collaboration with Scorsese, DiCaprio has rarely been this vital, energized or passionate. Damon delivers impressively as well. Thesp's receding boyish qualities merge well with the role, just as a hint of his Jason Bourne hardness adds the necessary ruthless edge to the repellently interesting character. Supporting cast is sparkling down the line, led by Wahlberg, who steals every base on the field and takes them home."
=========================================================
That just about wraps things up. Day one!
