Mediocre at best. Don't get your hopes up...

Rating: 5/10 (7 January 2009)

OK....I'm preparing for my death on these message boards but here goes...
Am I really the only one that thought this film was incredibly overrated and definitely not one of Scorsese's best? I'm sorry, but I've seen it 3 times, each time praying I will somehow see the "amazing Oscar-winning-film" that everyone rants and raves about but no: I see a somewhat waste of an amazing cast, a crappy script, and Scorsese after having a little too much sex with Hollywood. NOW before you murder me, please read some of my reasons below:
The Script: was ridiculous at times. Some of the dialogue was almost unbearably fake to me, and at times laughable (especially with DiCaprio).
Cinematography: was amazing at points, but by the 100th "zoom-in-really-quick-on-a- character-when-they're-talking" I was bored of it.
DiCaprio: was unoriginal....point blank. It doesn't take much to be an aggravated, obnoxious, and mean little goatee-ed man who is hooting and hollering all of the time, a role that seems to be DiCaprio's favorite type. As much as I respect Leo shedding his pretty boy skin and doing ACTUAL roles, I'm getting pretty sick of the same character he plays in every film.
The Story: was incredibly unbalanced. There were a few choice scenes that would fall in the "Brilliant" category for me, but a good 60% of the film was nothing more than mediocre.
The Ending/last shot: was stupid. How much skill and creativity does it take to kill everyone in your cast? NONE. It was an easy cop-out. And let me be the one to say that the last shot was comedic. "GABEGOMEZ4, YOU DON'T GET THE SIGNIFICANCE OF THE RAT AND THAT SHOT!!! YOU'RE SUCH AN AMATEUR WHO IS BLIND TO EVERYTHING GENIUS ABOUT THE ENDING!!!!" is what I'm sure all of you are thinking/typing as we speak but please...it doesn't take a *beep* rocket-scientist to get the symbolism of a god damned rat.
Scorsese's talent: was missing in this film. His true talent and love for the film was simply un-evident in The Departed. I miss the Meanstreets' Scorsese, and the Goodfellas' Marty. Personally I feel that it was slightly disrespectful to Scorsese to give him the statue for this film. The academy was basically saying "Hey, sorry about the past and overlooking your works-of-genius, but since you made a bloody Irish-mob film with some of the most talented actors in the business never mind how mediocre it was, we'll give this one to you!" Please....Scorsese, please go back to your roots.
Look don't get me wrong, I don't think this film is terrible. It has fantastic parts, and you can't really go wrong with Matt Damon. In reality, I'd give it a solid 7. But given the circumstances, I feel the need to call it out on it's faults.
Thanks for reading and remember, it's just an opinion.