Shallow remake

Rating: 6/10 (29 September 2012)

Before I start the review, I have to mention, I watched Infernal Affairs before seeing The Departed. Despite my best intentions not to let this cloud my opinion of the latter film, I'm afraid that it did have some influence.
As far as The Departed goes, I have to admit to being rather disappointed for several reasons. The first, and most disappointing aspect of the film, is the acting. Having seen Scorsese's previous works, I expected tight and controlled acting. The performances in this film are anything but. There is a lot of screaming and cursing and overall whining going on. But screaming and cursing do not equate to showing (acting) true anger, and whining has never equaled frustration, hurt or pain before. I don't know how many times I felt like laughing at seeing DiCaprio's or Damon's little whiny boy expressions - which they were, quite frankly, donning the entire length of the film. Wahlberg's constant use of profanity and idiotic lines was also rather morbidly hilarious; I simply couldn't take Dignam seriously. Overall, the acting was rather shallow and uninspired; I still can't understand what so many of the other reviewers found so praiseworthy.
Secondly, the entire story falls rather flat for me. The film is overly long, many scenes are rather pointless. Conversely, the timeline is ridiculously short. I mean, what was the reason for spending an entire hour showing the training sequences, then suddenly skipping forward about 4-5 months, during which time DiCaprio has become part of the gang and Damon has been promoted multiple times? This simply does not feel realistic. Also, the film has more plot holes and illogical actions than Swiss cheese. The most glaring one being, why does DiCaprio go for a showdown all by his little lonesome with Damon? If he wants his identity so much, why doesn't he simply contact Dignam? Or send the police force the recordings? Why doesn't he make any of the more logical decisions?
Lastly, I couldn't really see any reason for showing the dead bodies so long. I mean, I have nothing against violence in films, with films such as Oldboy and Reservoir Dogs being favorites, but I didn't feel that the long shots of Nicholson's, DiCaprio's and Damon's bodies after they were shot were necessary. Their characters never elicited enough sympathy to make the viewer feel sad about their deaths, thus these scenes felt simply forced.
Overall, I have the feeling that the film would not have been half as praised, had not Scorsese been the director. But quite frankly, his days of churning out tight, masterfully crafted films seem to be over.