Are you @$%$@-in' kiddin' me? Damon and Leonardo duke it out
Went and saw The Departed last night, since it'd probably be our last chance to do so before all the relatives arrive for the weekend and the World Series starts. My thumbnail review is that it was all right. Not nearly as tight or compelling as Infernal Affairs, the 2002 Hong Kong film it was based on. In that film, the focus was almost totally on the cat-and-mouse of the two moles, one deep undercover in an organized crime outfit, the other undercover in the police anti-crime unit. Since Infernal Affairs gave us a quick montage of the two officers going through academy and working their respective ways up over the course of 10 years (instead of just one year, in The Departed), this part seemed more believable and made the moral ambiguities of both moles a bit more poignant to watch. I'm assuming that Scorcese dispensed with this because a)he's working with young actors in the mole parts, and b) he wanted much of the film's focus to be on mob boss Nicholson, so spent his "foreground" time on that character.
But come on, now: a new guy who just got booted out of the police academy joins your squad, you find out there's a mole, and you're wondering who it is? Please. Conversely, the cops find out there's a mole, and they put a guy who's only been on the force for about a year in charge of finding him, giving him power to wire-tap/follow/spy on any of his superiors? Really? (Actually, I can almost believe this one...)
Bigger problem is the convoluted shrink/love interest subplot. Played by Vera Farmiga, this character was also attempted in the original, though not in the ill-advised, both leads somehow striking up a relationship with her way it is here.
Of course she's about ten times better looking than a police shrink has a right to be, but lacks the requisite gravitas to pull the character off. Total waste of time. Paltrow or somebody would have been better, but really, did the movie even need her? More to say, but time to head up for my 10am class...
