Alright as a standalone film. Bad remake.

Rating: 3/10 (16 May 2007)

Now, I'm sure a lot of people are going to disagree with me here, because I know a lot of people are DIE HARD Martin Scorsese fans, and some of you guys will blame this review on me having Infernal Affairs as my #1 film in my Top 10, but here goes.
The Departed's first sign of greatness would be the original. It amazed people worldwide for putting a fresh face on an old genre, spanning endless amounts of Cop v Triad Hong Kong movies, which are still coming out today in endless amounts.
The Departed's second sign of greatness would be the cast. A huge amount of famous actors. And this is where I'll begin criticising it. Leonardo DiCaprio, Matt Damon, Mark Wahlberg, Martin Sheen, Jack Nicholson, Ray Winstone, Alec Baldwin and so on. All these names are great, but the acting was mediocre, Mark Wahlberg seeming to get nominated for an Oscar by his characters dialogue alone. Even veteran actors like Ray Winstone provided little flair.
William Monahan, who wrote the screenplay went far too in-depth on the parts of the story that didn't matter. It took half an hour or so just to cover the opening five minutes of the original, focusing on Jack Nicholson and trying to stick as much swearing and wit into the script as possible.
The film did progress towards the end, after a dire first half it looked as if it could catch up with the original. The cinematography was decent in places, but typical Scorsese. The scenes that mattered, Oliver Queenan (Martin Sheen) falling off the top of the building was seriously marred, and a disappointment from the original, and the rooftop and elevator scene at the end, was dire. With Scorsese and Monahan ripping the original story to shreds.
Hideously overrated on IMDb with an 8.4 score and 77th in the top 250, The Departed is similar to The Ring. Both alright films on their own, but compared to the originals, they are terrible.
Sorry for the poorly written review.