Gangster movies were not something I watched a lot of, at least as a kid. All the grit, violence, drama, complexities, etc. were way over my head. But in growing up, I came to acquire a taste for these things and eventually learned to like them a lot. I still haven't seen any of the Godfather movies, but I've recently been catching up on Scorsese. And in being one of the few that's actually seen and can appreciate Infernal Affairs (the original inspiration for The Departed), I have to say I was pretty excited after initially hearing Scorsese was attached to direct this Western adaption. When I first saw The Departed on DVD some years ago, I'd never seen a whole Scorsese film in any kind of entirety, but I knew his films by name and heard he was a great director. After finally watching his most renowned work in Goodfellas, I could see why he earned such praise. With that said, upon this subsequent viewing of the The Departed I definitely like it a lot more than I did initially. It's the story of two moles: a gangster in the police and a cop in the mob. The two work their opposing bosses into trusting them, but the bosses are on to the fact that there is, indeed, an enemy mole within their own outfits. Violence, deception, drama, and thrills ensue as each mole gets closer to finding the other. In terms of comparison, I'd have to say Infernal Affairs makes for a more entertaining and fast-paced story with its kinetic score and attention to subtlety in both narrative and characters for the viewer to fill in on their own (along with 50 minutes less in running time). On the other hand, Scorsese does a wonderful job in making his version more of a character drama with the elements of the aforementioned on the side and set on the mean streets of South Boston that works very well, though tends to feel a bit cumbersome and underwhelming at times (like the love triangle, the lack of empathy for Nicholson's character compared to his Chinese counterpart, or the overuse of record label songs as opposed to an actual score). However, the film more than makes up for these shortcomings through a wonderful script and some excellent performances with an A-list cast, particularly Leonardo DiCaprio, Matt Damon, Martin Sheen, and a very foul-mouthed (though funny to listen to) Mark Wahlberg. Both are excellent movies in their own right that should cater to either side of the spectrum depending your preference for flash and execution vs. grit and progression, though I'd personally lean a little more towards the original just because it doesn't feel as tedious in certain aspects.
Video - 4.5
For being one of the flagship BDs from Warner Brothers' early days into HD home video, the video quality actually looks pretty good. Compared to other flagship titles released from around the same time, in which some of them do or don't still hold up to today's standards, The Departed presents itself very well. The first thing that caught my eye during Nicholson's little prologue speech were the black levels and shadow delineation. As you see his silhouette walking through with a white background behind him, it instantly set the tone for me and made for some lovely foreshadowing to the film's narrative about the deceit, secrets, and hiding to occur throughout. Colors aren't very bold, and are even a bit drab, but still manage to put some real-world depth into the picture making the audience know full well that the grit and dirtiness are there. Blues, grays, and blacks tend to stick out the most in the form of police uniforms, gangster attire, and various low-lit settings, while red tends to show themselves a bit more towards the end when people start getting off'd. Contrast is also excellent and helps to accentuate some very fine textures and facial features from the creases in shirts and lining in suits to the stubble of unshaven mob goons and the wrinkles under their eyes. Overall image detail has a great deal of clarity and sharpness with near-reference quality outside of some artifacts and debris that pop up on occasion and the every-so-often instance of overly red skin tones. But all things considered, audiences should be pleased with the picture quality and that it didn't end up as badly botched as say.. Batman Begins or V for Vendetta was.
Audio - 4.5
Using that memory-eater of a codec in Uncompressed PCM , The Departed outputs at a constant bitrate of 4.6Mbps and sounds just as excellent as one could hope. The movie starts off silent and fades into Rolling Stones' Gimme Shelter at a very adequate volume that gives the film some ambiance, but never overpowers Nicholson's opening speech. Dialogue throughout remains clear and discernible from the center channel, and I was very.. amused at how well I could understand those Bostonian accents (still had to turn the subtitles on, just to be safe). Directionality is a bit sparse, but does take advantage of the clarity of lossless audio by giving off some very fine subtleties in sound effects like the opening and closing of doors, the churning of cars plodding down the street, the ringing of telephones across the room, and the approaching footsteps of people off screen. Music varies between a lot of cuts of Gimme Shelter and Dropkick Murphys' I'm Shipping Up to Boston and a little bit of score from Howard Shore here and there. For the most part, it's a fairly music-less sound scape with the dialogue doing most of the work, though gunshots and fist fights make themselves known when need be. Separation is handled perfectly between all of these elements with a lot of the music staying in the front and guns and punches panning between the fronts and rears, most notably during a raid scene towards the end. The only downside to this audio presentation is the lack of any potent LFEs, which obviously don't have very many moments to shine aside from some bass in the music, but it's still a fine movie without them.
Extras - 3.5
With just over 45 minutes of special features, there are two of them presented: one talking about infamous Southie gangster Whitey Bulger (whom Nicholson's character is based on), and another featurette talking about Scorsese's history in film as well as his previous experiences in the gangster genre. The Whitey Bulger segment adds an intriguing sense of realism. There are various interviews with news correspondents, former law enforcement officials, and even former mob men that talk about the scope and influence of Bulger, the power he possessed for almost 30 years, and a little bit of the of stigma a person like him carried around. I'm still a bit new to the gangster genre myself and found this to be a pretty cool piece of information. It wasn't overly factual, but still managed to tell me enough that I could relate it to the movie and give it a more objective view. The Scorsese "portfolio" segment was a very great watch. Like I said, I'm just now getting into him as a director and it fascinates me to learn about his history growing up, the kinds of films he made, and a lot of the similarities and influences those works share with one another. I see him as being quite charismatic, and I'm a bit disappointed they didn't include a commentary of some sort for the movie itself. Then finally, there are also deleted scenes in SD with introductions for each one. All in all, there aren't a lot of specials in terms of quantity, but I personally enjoyed them for the outright quality.
Overall - 4.5
The Departed is a fine adaptation of Infernal Affairs that really works for western audiences. It's not as flashy or well-executed in terms of screenplay, but it makes up for those losses in gritty atmosphere and more fleshed-out characters. And who better to portray this than a man who's certainly becoming one of my favorite directors in Martin Scorsese. I was shocked that he never won an Oscar prior to this film, but I'm glad to see he got his just due at some point. If you like cop/gangster thrillers, this would probably be near the top of my recommendations (though I would also say you try Infernal Affairs if you don't mind subtitles). With excellent video and audio specs and a good amount of informative extras, The Departed comes highly recommended.
An Overrated but Good Film in the Overcrowded Crime Film Genre - Private Quentin Tarantino Fan - nowhere
For all the generic crime films that come out each and ever year, Martin Scorsese is one of those people who you can always count on making a more substantial stand out crime film. After all, he's the one who made the best mob movies ever (Goodfellas), created a very influential independent crime film (Mean Streets), and numerous other crime films that stand out among the crowded genre (Gangs of New York, Casino). Oh sure, not all of them are equal, but they do stand out and are great films in the face of....uh....wow, what a generic genre. Never mind.
Scorsese has taken us everywhere in the crime genre, from the gritty low of the New York Streets, the mob, and even the 1860's. This time, Scorsese takes us to the streets of Boston, giving us insight into the corruption of the Boston Police Department. Scorsese doesn't quite reach the level of his other crime films, as the film comes off as a very well written, intricate crime film, top notch entertainment only. It's a twisty, sometimes plot hole ridden, crime film about two moles criss-crossing and converging in numerous ways possible, a very compelling crime film, done with great direction from Martin Scorsese (though nowhere near the level of Goodfellas, I mean come on).
However, I'm of the opinion that I find this movie to be a little overrated. It's hardly Scorsese's best work, and personally, I found The Aviator and Gangs of New York to be both better than the Departed. It's also a little generic compared to Goodfellas, which is surely one of the prime crime films that transcends the ordinary crime film genre. I think what this film lacks is insight, and the personal examination element is nowhere as profound as some of his other films. Where's the examination of the duality of being in crime, of how deadly alluring being a mobster can be? Where's the searing ugliness of relationships previously shown (Sharon Stone, Lorraine Bracco). Where's the message that shows you just how ugly and messed up being in crime can be? When watching Goodfellas, no other film shows the long-term and life wrecking nature of being in crime. Henry Hill loses everything and has to enter the witness protection program, putting in jail the friends that gave him the of his life. Best film since Goodfellas? Hardly.
Rather, the Departed comes off as a very well done trip into the Boston crime unit, but a largely meaningless look into the Boston Crime unit beyond showing corruption of the whole thing. Sure, the themes of identity are always interesting, but that's not really that profound is it? Identity ________ things up and can put us into ______, I think that's easy to figure out. It's also fairly bland compared to Goodfellas, which style is so distinctive and full of gusto that it's kind of hard to realize that this film owns a Best Director Award and Goodfellas does not.
Despite all of this, the film is far from generic fare. Compare it to Live Free or Die and Even Money, two films from 2006 that nobody remembers, nor hasn't even heard of. It's a blessing that we have Scorsese either way, even if some of his films don't stand out as much as others. Execution, is what makes this film a great one despite it's underwhelming story. It's a very tense, gripping, and well-crafted crime thriller, and often really does feel like The acting here is very good, as it's one of the movies that made me realize that Leonardo DiCaprio can act very well. And yes, I do believe that Martin Scorsese's direction is substantial. There's still plenty of music placed perfectly here, as well as plenty of funny dialogue, grittiness, and brutal depiction of violence. Not one of his best, but it stands out rather well anyway.
Don't believe the hype. This is certainly not his best film. In my opinion, this isn't even Scorsese's best of the 00's, as both Gangs of New York and The Aviator stake up much better territory, and are both much more interesting. But still, if you are looking for another great film from one of America's most well known Directors, check it out anyway.
Excellent! - SPud -
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