Remake That Works

Rating: 10/10 (6 October 2006)

Based of an Asian film called "Internal Affairs", "The Departed" is one of those rare instances where remakes actually work. Usually I don't talk to fellow movie goers, whom I don't know, upon leaving a show. This was not possible to resist upon leaving the screening I attended. I spoke with two groups of complete strangers, searching for reassurance that I just saw what I just saw.
Martin Scorsese has one hell of a reputation, and he lives up to it in this outing. This is the first Scorsese picture that I have seen in the theatre and now I know fully the effect that "Taxi Driver" must have had on it's audience some thirty years ago.
TD is a 2.5 hour film, but never once feels long, drawn out or boring. From the opening monologue by the legendary Jack Nicholson to the dramatic climax, the film is well paced, unbelievably acted, beautifully lit and as curvaceous as a roller coaster at Six Flags. The tension will have you twitching in your plush seat.
I don't know what to say about the acting that the unfamiliar wouldn't be able to assume, and correctly so, from the cast lineup itself. Because of this I will just list the cast; Jack Nicholson, Martin Sheen, Alec Baldwin, Mark Wahlberg, Matt Damon, and Leonardo DiCaprio. 'Nuff said! If every movie was this good, the box office would be profitable again, and I would be on welfare, not for spending all my income, but because I would watch film 24/7.
If you see one movie for the rest of 2006, this is it. I am saying it now. Best Pic!