The Departed

Ears · « **on:** 11 Oct 2006, 12:28 am »

I will be giving nothing away about this movie and simply say that if you don't mind a bit of violence, and the previews seem up your alley....this movie probably is also.

4 out of 5 stars

gitarretyp · « **Reply #1 on:** 11 Oct 2006, 02:16 am »

I agree, it was well done

. If you liked the departed, you might also want to check out Infernal Affairs, the hong kong original.

scottielee · « **Reply #2 on:** 11 Oct 2006, 02:22 am »

Quote from: gitarretyp on 11 Oct 2006, 02:16 am

I agree, it was well done . If you liked the departed, you might also want to check out Infernal Affairs, the korean original.

the original Infernal Affairs is from Hong Kong.
http://www.infernalaffairs.com/2002/

gitarretyp · « **Reply #3 on:** 11 Oct 2006, 02:35 pm »

Quote from: scottielee on 11 Oct 2006, 02:22 am

the original Infernal Affairs is from Hong Kong.
http://www.infernalaffairs.com/2002/

Corrected, thanks. Anyway, it's a good movie regardless of origin.

LordCloud · « **Reply #4 on:** 11 Oct 2006, 07:02 pm »

I liked the movie as well. 3.5 out of 5 for me.

fredgarvin · « **Reply #5 on:** 24 Oct 2006, 03:54 am »

I really appreciated the lack of the sentimentality that Hollywood seems to foist on so many good scripts. Well acted all around and the female lead was very good, just seemed like a real woman rather than some phony, macho fem-bot. She was tough in a real womanly way. I've never appreciated diCaprio but he is changing my mind with good acting chops. The ending did seem chopped up, probably due to time constraints, but effective.

Rob Babcock · « **Reply #6 on:** 24 Oct 2006, 04:23 am »

I have been wanting to see that one. Perhaps when I'm at the store for NRT. That and Nacho Libre (I know the reviews are mediocre, but I'll give anything with Jack Black a chance).

fredgarvin · « **Reply #7 on:** 24 Oct 2006, 04:30 am »

I felt Baldwin was intentionally used as a mild comedic counterpoint in a couple of scenes, which made his toughness more effective. Of course, chewing scenery is what Nicholson does.

Tyson · « **Reply #8 on:** 24 Oct 2006, 05:22 am »

I'll say upfront that I liked infernal affairs better, mainly because the main mole actors were more believable with their internal conflicts, and the tension in the second half was more effective. In fact I was a little dissapointed with the Departed for about 60 seconds after it ended. Then I thought about a line one of the characters said "what, you don't know any shakespear?" It occured to me that The Departed was deliberately shakespearean, complete with soliloquys (Nicholson), profane minor players (Walberg), conflicted protagonists (DiCaprio), some comic relief (Baldwin), and a whole mess of dead bodies by the end, true to form for a Shakespearean Tragedy.

Cacophonix · « **Reply #9 on:** 24 Oct 2006, 05:28 am »

I watched the hong kong original last weekend and liked the movie

I'll probably catch the remake later on to see how good/bad is it compared to the original.

fredgarvin · « **Reply #10 on:** 24 Oct 2006, 05:45 am »

Tyson, I think you really have something there! Also the capture of human moral ambiguity.

PhilNYC · « **Reply #11 on:** 2 Dec 2006, 10:54 pm »

Saw this yesterday and found it enjoyable. I agree with Tyson and others that the Hong Kong original was better...but in a dearth of great movies nowawdays, The Departed was definitely among the better ones I've seen in the last year or two. Interesting thought about the Shakesperean nature of the film...unfortunately, I'm not all that knowledgeable about Shakespeare, so I can't comment on it.

One note...in the original Infernal Affairs, both moles are audiophiles (and even have a discussion about comparing cables in their systems)...apparently, one of the actors (Andy Lau) is an audiophile. Was wondering whether they'd do something with that in The Departed; while it wasn't as obvious as a cable shootout discussion, Sullivan had a pretty nice McIntosh system in his home. Anyone get a bead on the headphones?

Ears · « **Reply #12 on:** 15 Feb 2007, 11:25 pm »

This is on the menu for tonight in Blu ray....after I eat dinner and fire up the PJ and ps3.
This will be the first Warner Blu ray disc with PCM audio besides the Sopranos box set.
According to one review comparison...the PCM audio is slightly better than the Dolby Tru -hd audio on the hd dvd version under..double blind testing conditions.

Should be even better than at the movies

Rob Babcock · « **Reply #13 on:** 15 Feb 2007, 11:44 pm »

HD picture and PCM audio! aa Sounds good.

gitarretyp · « **Reply #14 on:** 16 Feb 2007, 12:05 am »

I mentioned previously to check-out infernal affairs if you liked the departed. I've been giving it a bit of thought lately. The two are perfect examples of the dichotomy that exists between american and eastern (even most european) story telling styles. The departed spends a great deal of time in character development and really spends very little time unfolding the story (character driven), while infernal affairs favors a strong story with very little character development (plot driven). I think infernal affairs has a better ending because the bad guy character wasn't so well developed that the story necessitated a certain conclusion to be sensible.

PhilNYC · « **Reply #15 on:** 16 Feb 2007, 12:43 am »

Quote from: gitarretyp on 16 Feb 2007, 12:05 am

infernal affairs favors a strong story with very little character development (plot driven).

I disagree with this. (POSSIBLE SPOILER!) One of the reasons I thought Infernal Affairs was better was because of the characters, and specifically because you weren't quite sure if the bad guy infiltrating the police wasn't enjoying his success as a policeman enough to turn his back on the crime boss. I thought this ambiguity was completely intentional by the filmmaker and really a highlight of the complexity of the characters in the film. In The Departed, the whole thing with Jack Nicholson and the FBI seemed like a Hollywood dumbed-down way of making Matt Damon make the decisions he did. (SPOILER OVER) I also felt that Infernal Affairs did a much better job at showing the good guy's emotional desperation of wanting to come out of deep cover...

I thought that the characters in The Departed overall were more icons/caricature, and they were far more nuanced in Infernal Affairs...

Of course, this could also be because I saw Infernal Affairs long before I saw The Departed. I have yet to talk with someone about this film who saw The Departed first, and Infernal Affairs later....

gitarretyp · « **Reply #16 on:** 16 Feb 2007, 04:00 am »

Phil,

I'd argue that you've expounded on my point. The reason you weren't sure about the motives of the bad guy in infernal affairs was that his character wasn't developed to the point of transparency as were the ones in the departed. Infernal Affairs focused on intricate plot development, and the story unfolded through the plot. In the departed, the focus was on developing the characters and telling the story through them.

Your view that the characters were more nuanced in infernal affairs is a different --no less valid --interpretation of the story telling employed in the two versions. I'd agree that some of it was due to dumbing the story down.

In the end, i preferred Infernal Affairs, overall. I may also be biased since i saw it first.

PhilNYC · « **Reply #17 on:** 16 Feb 2007, 12:13 pm »

I don't think that transparency is necessarily the end-goal of character development in film. A character that is deep and complex is much harder to show transparency than a simple one, and I believe the characters in Infernal Affairs were more the former. In The Departed, I thought the characters were much simpler (and therefore more transparent).

In any case, we agree that Infernal Affairs was a better film!

PeteG · « **Reply #18 on:** 16 Feb 2007, 02:54 pm »

Quote from: Ears on 15 Feb 2007, 11:25 pm

This is on the menu for tonight in Blu ray....after I eat dinner and fire up the PJ and ps3.
This will be the first Warner Blu ray disc with PCM audio besides the Sopranos box set.
According to one review comparison...the PCM audio is slightly better than the Dolby Tru -hd audio on the hd dvd version under..double blind testing conditions.

Should be even better than at the movies

Picked up the HD DVD and will be watching it this weekend. The few TrueHD sound tracks I've heard were excellent.
Either format will be great at home.

bummrush · « **Reply #19 on:** 28 Feb 2007, 04:24 pm »

Film was ok ,way to overhyped,3 of 5 at best on it.