Misses the mark

Rating: 6/10 (2 April 2007)

I believe that "The Departed" wants to be the new "The Godfather," but to me, it misses the mark. The storyline and cast have all the potential in the world, but both fail, or are let down by the cast and their performances. By the way , I am a big Jack Nicholson, Matt Damon, and Mark Walhberg fan to begin with, and Leonardo DiCaprio won me over in this role. I'm not sure if the actors or the director failed here. I think Nicholson and Wahlberg overact their parts to the point of being ridiculous, but were they instructed to play their roles this way? I think Damon and DiCaprio, as their characters of course, make ludicrous decisions in the climactic scenes of the movie. There are a number of other faults with the movie, but these are the most important and the most egregious. This is the first movie on which I have ever commented on IMDb. Most times, I am in general agreement with what I consider an astute group of IMDb readers and staff, but this one I don't get. I am stunned that this movie won best picture (unless it was for overlooking Scorcese for far too long, rather than it being the best movie.) Maybe I need to watch it a couple of more times to let it grow on me, but I really don't believe that I will be able to make myself sit through it again.