Enough about the "original" already!

Rating: 7/10 (22 October 2006)

Well, my difficulties with this flick seem to veer off a bit from other reviewers on the site, so I'll just put in my 2 cents and leave 'em on the table: 1. Is it absolutely mandatory to have seen "the original" screening of the Hong Kong adaptation of this story? Filmland is full of different interpretations of the same source material, and I think one has to keep an open mind when viewing the latest. Many people dismissed the most recent reincarnation of "Vanity Fair" due to earlier interpretations of the story. As for myself, I found the 'Bollywood' additions creative and appropriate.
2. That said, I would have rather seen another director's reinvention of the tale, much as I'm often wowed by Scorcese. I keep thinking about Clint Eastwood's masterful production of the similarly-themed "Mystic River," and wonder if the story itself may have been more concisely told and still have retained the somewhat Shakespearean element referenced in this film.
3. There were some bothersome plot holes in this film that I kept waiting for some explanation for. Why did Costigan receive "therapy" from the police psychiatrist in the first place if only Queenan and Dignam were aware of his true identity as a cop? Where was there any evidence that there was another "rat" besides Sullivan in the department until the bloody end? How did Sullivan explain the bloodbath in the elevator exactly? Was the female shrink's baby fathered by Costigan or Sullivan? The subplot concerning Costello's role as an FBI "rat" may have been easier to swallow if there had been even one example of this particular treachery somewhere in the film. Oh, I could go on...
4. Many people didn't like the ending, perhaps based on the "original." I had mixed feelings, because I smelled it coming. Dignam disappears for an inordinately long stretch at the end of the film (and his exit was a mite unbelievable, as some have mentioned.) So I'm sitting there for 20 minutes or so thinking that Dignam will return to finish off Sullivan. No surprise there, and just one last body on the mounting pyre. Classic Scorcese blood fest. Liked it better in the underrated "Gangs of New York." Alright, So I've poked a few holes in this otherwise riveting gangster-cop saga. Overall, I agree with the comments applauding the cast, but I actually was relieved that Nicholson wasn't as "over-the top" as I feared he might be: just about right for the flamboyant character he played. And add me to the list of people who weren't big DiCaprio fans until this film. He should keep working with Scorcese, who seems to be guiding him well lately. I loved seeing fresh-scrubbed Matt Damon as another wolf in sheep's clothing (e.g., "The Talented Mr. Ripley"), too.
I'll keep watching Scorcese films, bloody and tragic as they are. But I still keep thinking he has at least one more coming on the level of "Taxi Driver." May it arrive soon!