Entertaining... and not much more

Rating: 7/10 (10 July 2012)

First I saw 'The Departed'. It was cool. Then I saw 'Infernal affairs'. It was awesome. Then, after some time, I saw 'The Departed' again. And I realized I've been conned.
I wish there was a way to talk about 'The Departed' without constant references to IA, but there isn't. This is not a re-imagining, it is not a remake or a tribute- it's a pure and simple rip-off, most of the time scene by scene, shot by shot. Everything that is good, interesting or storytelling in 'The Departed' originates in IA. All they did was change the setting and the language and dumb down the story here and there with some melodramatic/vulgar effects. Speaking of vulgar; I don't give a s**t about 'ugly words', some of the best movies are full of cursing, and hell, that's how people really talk after all. But... i just couldn't get past of how scenes that are subtle and cool in IA are almost systematically replaced with mindless cursing-orgies here. It's not that they curse it's that they ONLY do that, as if a tirade Wahlberg-style could actually replace acting and real emotions. It seems like throwing in a dick-joke, adding some punches, yelling, being all f**k this and f**k that is what makes true 'realism'. Even in minor scenes; in IA the mob-mole merely has a conversation with the psychologist; here he blows up, yells and runs away. After the cinema scene, when the cop nearly finds out who the mole is in IA you have a tense psychological scene; in The Departed Matt Damon MUST stab somebody, apparently the director doesn't think it's cool enough without that. Or the classic rooftop end scene- in IA the two opponents act calmly, with dignity- here there's cursing and fighting and punching instead of a shared moment of drama. In one word- it's cheap, something you wouldn't expect from Scorsese and this cast.