A good gangster flick overall

Rating: 8/10 (23 September 2019)

Donnie Brasco has always been one of those movies where certain scenes keep running through my head days after I've seen it. I like the fact that Donnie isn't portrayed by a typical typecast gangster actor who's face has already been plastered all over Scorsese films 20 times over. Depp (who I've never been a huge fan of) does a rather well job portraying a pressured, often overwhelmed, undercover agent who is trying to balance domestic life and mafia life/his career. It was also a treat to watch Pacino go from the top of the Mafia kingdom (Michael Corleone) to a two-bit button man who is constantly broke and hasn't had a promotion on the streets in years. His on-screen chemistry with Depp is very palpable, which in turn gives us well-defined and relatable characters throughout the movie. I like that this movie operates at a bit of a slower pace than what some might be used to with this genre. Don't come into this one expecting a Goodfellas-esque array of violence and action from scene to scene. This movie operates more like a soap opera and forces us to pay close attention to how the characters interact on screen. Depp has no voiceover narration like other gangster films tend to do, which can always tread that line of being excessive and pretty much coerce the viewer to think or feel a certain way about something that's happened. We have to rely solely on what he see here and thankfully Depp does a good job of showing us his character's emotional decline as the horrors of daily mafia life consume him.
One scene in particular involving the murder of rival crew members pushes him to the very limit, catching him off guard and then being forced to help in the clean-up and disposal. The conversation in the car afterward with Pacino pushes home the grim reality and fate of guys in their lifestyle. Scenes like this eventually lead us to Depp's desperation and emotional breakdown when interacting with his estranged wife later in the movie. All good stuff indeed.

Give this one a shot if you haven't seen it. This movie seems to get a lot of hate for some reason. Seeing this encouraged me to buy some of the true crime books on the Donnie Brasco story, all of which were equally amazing and intense.