Wow, was that disappointing

Rating: 5/10 (18 February 2007)

First off, when I heard the Rolling Stones song that was also played in Goodfellas playing in The Departed, I knew we were not going to be seeing a film with too much of its own merit. It makes it weak enough in the first place that it is based on a Hong Kong film.
Here's my other complaints with the film: - Why is William taking painkillers? So, he drinks cranberry juice (like a woman on her period? I'm a woman, and I've never heard of that. Perhaps it is something they do in backwoods Boston?). Oh, and he drinks cranberry juice, not alcohol, so we are to believe that he would be OK then with popping Oxycontin or sleep meds? Hmmm...

Oh, but then later, we see him guzzling from a bottle of wine. Uh, when did that start? Please, if you're going to make a point about a character's character, be consistent.

Why does the shrink go to coffee with William? Even Kelly McGillis' character in Top Gun had a REASON for having dinner with Tom Cruise's character: she wanted to hear about the Mig. So, we are to believe the shrink goes to coffee with William, because, uh, because he's Irish and impervious to psychoanalysis, so she wants to be the first shrink to crack an Irishman? - And how did William find out where she lives? He just shows up there, comments on her photo, then they go at it? - What was up with Sullivan's reaction to the shrink's photo anyway? I never figured that out. Besides the fact that when she was a child, it is doubtful that she would have been wearing a helmet when riding a bike. The photo was a little anachronistic frankly.

Finally, why didn't the shrink open the letter William gave her? And why did Dingham kill Sullivan (nice booties, Marky Mark!) like that? Wouldn't it have been better to take him down, defame him, strip him of everything, and put him in prison where policemen are not treated no nicely? As the shrink said, death is easy, but life is hard. But this movie didn't follow its own wisdom anyway as Costello said that it was always the women that bring the crooks down, and the shrink had nothing to do with the takedown.

I could go on with a few other pet peeves I had (did anyone else think that Jack was slipping into his Joker character there for a few scenes there? And what an inconsistent Boston accent he had!). But it just suffices to say, it is a dry season indeed when an eyedropper of a film creates a tidal wave of awards.
"Evuh dance wit' thuh devil in thuh pale moonlight?" - Joker with Boston accent