Not as good as I had hoped but still a fine film

Rating: 7/10 (11 January 2005)

I had heard a lot about "Donnie Brasco" and thought it would be really great. First of all it stars two of the best actors of all time - Pacino and the underrated, truly wonderful character actor Johnny Depp who has struggled throughout his entire career turning down big-budget roles in order to separate himself from the "pretty boys." His role here is convincing - but somehow it left me feeling a bit unimpressed overall.
Pacino, however, is really good and totally cast against type. Seeing the trailer, reading about the film, viewing the DVD cover, I just _knew_ it was going to be another one of Pacino's recent cocky, yelling roles (e.g. Devil's Advocate). However he really portrays his character well, and I was surprised to see him playing a loser versus the Mafia kingpin I had expected. I thought Pacino's character was a Mafia don or something, and was pleasantly surprised to find out that he's actually a lowlife in this film and Michael Madsen plays the kingpin.
Unfortunately the film itself left me a bit underwhelmed. It's nowhere near as good, heavy or memorable as "GoodFellas," which is sort of unfortunate as they're so often compared on Internet forums (just take a look at IMDb!). They're really not in the same league as far as I'm concerned and although "Donnie Brasco" is a fine film with two good performances, it overall just left me wanting more.