Riveting acting and plot, but....

Rating: 7/10 (4 February 2007)

I was totally absorbed in this movie for the first two hours. The plot, the characters, the action and suspense. Humor. Great dialog. It contained that ingredient that makes for great screenplay "same but different". In that sense it somewhat reminded me of "Training Day", but that movie never lost its groove, as I feel that "The Departed" did. With about a half an hour to go in this film, I blinked. The movie was no longer seamless. I leaned and said to my wife, "this is getting too long". She nodded in agreement. At about that point I stopped caring what happened and just wanted it to be over. I think this movie could have withstood some serious editing and perhaps used a few audience reactions to tighten it up. About a third of the audience at the show I was at started laughing towards the end of the movie. Lots of blood and guts throughout, so if you're not already case hardened to that stuff, then this movie ain't for you. The acting really was great, apart from Damon (who I usually like). I think he was trying to play a guy who just wasn't comfortable in his own skin, and for me it just came across as awkward.