It's number 1! Yeah!

Rating: 1/10 (27 November 2006)

I wasn't really sure what to rate 'The Departed' (I have to give it an actual number? One that implies some significance?), but I settled on a solid '1', earned solely by Leonardo's phantastic acting. Leo is the lone saving grace, and for those of you who think a '1' is skimpy for his performance, let me just say that, based on the movie alone, I was thinking in negative ratings.
I'm going to admit here that this is my first real Scorsese flick (besides the Bobumentary) and so I do not have an unquestioned loyalty to him (or biased approval).
As far as sequencing goes, I'd rank this right up there with 'The Wickerman'. A choppy, confusing style that I believe the technical term for is "pretentious schlock". One minute we're on the crime scene, the next, in a bedroom! To hell with coherent story lines, I'd much rather be left unsatisfied and aching.
To pull out another comparison, the screenplay, in quality AND in execution closely resembles The Black Dahlia. Lines fly like crashing jets overstuffed with pseudo-noir euphemisms constantly as characters struggle with wonderfully clichéd situations and relationships.
And just a final remark of disgust: Jack Nicholson was already hideously repulsive. I did really not see the need for flashing two seconds of him choking the bishop.