Mediocre, the original is FAR superior

Rating: 2/10 (7 October 2006)

Scorsese isn't what he used to be and as a Scorsese lover this pains me to say so. He must have sat down watched Goodfellas and thought 'hmmm. What did I used to do that made me great? I'll just copy that.' It's Scorsese imitating himself and not doing a very good job of it. The editing is quick and choppy like in Goodfellas but too much so the whole film is like one big montage with very little innovative direction. DeCaprio and Damon aren't great but neither are they bad, they just suffice. The actors that really shine are Mark Walberg, who finally ditches the breathless, confused moron he usually plays and does something way different and innovative with himself. Alec Baldwin is fantastic he has some of the best lines and is an actor who just seems to be getting better with age. Normally I'd say the same for Jack who's performance in 'As Good As It Gets', was groundbreaking but this time he's just playing The Joker in Batman he's too over the top for such a seriously acted movie. He was also made too nasty, just to make us dislike him with no seeming root for all his hostility. The original is far superior the only thing the remake does better is establishing DeCaprio in the gang before the fireworks start. Basically all the elements that make a Scorsese movie great weren't there; The violence was comic book (especially the number of head shots at the end), the film-making is sub-standard. Only the writing remained consistently good but even then it followed too closely the layout of Internal Affairs which is just plain lazy.