I was expecting to see the movie of the year......

Rating: 4/10 (7 October 2006)

I love Martin Scorcese, Goodfellas and Mean Streets are two of my favourite films, and I highly rate every known actor on the cast!!! Given the reviews, trailers and rumours I had heard about this movie (one even bettering Goodfellas!!!!) I was very excited, although I was careful not to over-anticipate! The film opens very well, and as soon as the first installment of the soundtrack started (a throwback to Goodfellas) I was smiling broadly! The film was very good, but I felt it could have been a cinematic masterpiece, which I don't think it is. I have seen the original Infernal Affairs, but didn't want to try and compare them, I wanted to see this as an original film. The story is a good one, the characters are good but are developed very quickly, I felt the opening hour was just a quick rush of the characters, trying to squeeze everything in. The performances, however, were generally very good. I felt the screenplay lacked something, though. Jack Nicholson's character didn't really work for me, a lot of things didn't make sense (no spoilers!!!) and especially with his character, it all felt a bit clichÃ©d. If anything, I felt the story and script may have been a little simplistic, there weren't really any twists and there was no suspense. There were a dozen great scenes, but they were well spaced! I didn't like the way the filmmakers felt they had to make the story so transparent and obvious, but that seems a general theme in Hollywood now.... I would definitely see this film again, hopefully I can enjoy it more, and would recommend it, but I feel a little disappointed that this wasn't the epic crime film I was hoping for.... I'd actually give it 6.5........