Average Scorsese.... Not a bad thing...

Rating: 7/10 (22 June 2007)

Well, I finally got round to watching the Departed. Pretty decent gangster flick, with some pretty bad accents!
I don't want to take anything away from this film, it's a really decent movie compared to most of the crap being released at the moment, but it is what it is, another Scorsese gangster film. It's hard to see why it won the Oscar for best picture really when Pans Labyrinth and Little Miss Sunshine were passed over for it, considering these two movies are absolute gems of film making, stunningly original and unlike anything else I'd seen before. The Departed, although very good, really is nothing new and doesn't really bring too much to the gangster film genre which is already filled with good examples by Scorsese, Mean streets, Casino etc. And if you have seen the Infernal affairs trilogy, it seems even more familiar, although not identical.
All in all this is a contender for ONE of the best movies of last year, but not THE best movie. Still worth a watch.