Scorsese hits the jackpot..... again !!!

Rating: 8/10 (11 November 2006)

The Departed is one of the best contemporary thrillers that I have seen. True its a remake, and critics will be be saying,"So what the Chinese did this before and even made sequel to it.." But Scorsese's Departed is a whole new thing. Firstly Jack Nicholson.(Screw me, but I'm a big fan of him...) Even though Nicholson is the villain, the movie doesn't give him much of a headway. He starts off as a local absconder and rises up to a mafia boss, but throughout the movie he rules about every other actor. Be it DiCaprio or Damon. Even in the scene where he dies he commands an aura of respect. Second point making this a must see, is undoubtedly its marvelous star cast. True again that some of the actors were not used to their potential like Alec Baldwin and Mark Wahlberg but still no one would be able to resist the temptation of such an unbelievable cast. Thirdly Martin Scorsese. The bloke has given Hollywood some amazing movies over the years. He may go down in history as the greatest director not to get a Academy Award(I cant see him bagging an award for this, since its a remake) but he truly is a genius. And lastly Pink Floyd. If you people are wondering if I have lost my nuts, then no. Indeed Floyd's most remarkable song,"Comfortably Numb" does feature in the movie in the love making scene between DiCaprio's character and Vera Farmiga.
No point harping about the story cause many people saw the smash hit, Infernal Affairs and its a clone of that. Every odd scene, leaving out the ending. The technical bits was good. Screenplay was solid, acting out of the world, there was some bits for comic relief. Some real cool stuff shown with cell phones. Matt Damon, DiCaprio and Martin Sheen all were very good. Vera Farmiga also looked good, even being a new face. Alec Baldwin was vastly underused, so was Mark Wahlberg. But end of the day Jack Nicholson owned the movie. He set the tone, and even at the age of 75, he commands such respect. The scene at the porn theater, I couldn't comprehend Nicholson enacting that masturbating drama, but he pulled it off. Its like a tug of war, with all the heavy weights on one side and the 75 year old man on the other. So bottom line Departed is one hell of a movie, a rated must see. 8/10 !!!!