Sad, sad, sad

Rating: 2/10 (19 February 2008)

Granted, it’s pretty well shot. Although… in between two brilliant pieces of cinema, you have many talking heads with reverse angle shots. Not easy to do away with that when you tell a story for the cinema. Granted, it’s pretty well acted, especially by Leonardo Di Caprio. But what does this movie say about life? What is the point? Also who is the protagonist? Whom are we supposed to identify with? Logically, it should be Billy (Leonardo Di Caprio) who is the honest cop undercover in the mob. But since we often follow Colin whose character has been given Matt Damon’s pretty mug, it’s not that clear. The double romance is not milked at all. It’s just shown in parallel. And on top of that too many characters play a double game. Even the bad guy (Jack Nicholson) is an informer for the FBI. One of the thugs doesn’t turn Billy in although he has understood who he is. If “The departed” is 43 on the IMDb top list, before “City lights” , “Groundhog day” and “Mr Smith goes to Washington” we are in big trouble. Sad, sad, sad.