Should have been better

Rating: 6/10 (30 December 2006)

Organized crime, organized crime fighting. Corrupt policemen and undercover agents. They seem to be connected at the hip and this film plays with that from the start to the very last minute of it, telling the tale of the actions of a FBI/police combination fighting to bring a hotshot criminal down. Apparently it is a remake of the Japanese film Mou gaan dou (2002). I have not seen that original but will be on the lookout for it now.
The Departed is intense. A tad slow in the beginning and maybe a little too fast in the ending, but I guess keeping a very good balance in a 150 minute film can be a very daunting task. The most of it is rather interesting and builds a tension that runs somewhere until the last 15 minutes of the film - but - that is where it all fails. For me the last 15 minutes of film feel glued to the rest but not really connected to that rest and that more or less breaks the film in half, destroying its quality.
All in all. A lot of good looking imagery, good sound track, nice story - until just before the end of it. Cut of 15 minutes and you've got a thrilling good film.
6 out of 10 dirty cops