Violence on a Pedestal

Rating: 8/10 (14 October 2006)

Gruesome. Its almost disgustingly violent, nearly revolting. Some call it gritty and real, others says it's blood soaked and sensationalistic. I think it's classic Scorcese - brutal yet elegant, visceral yet poignant. It's a grizzly ballet, a macho cinematic dance. The details of the story are well recorded in other commentaries so I'll limit my statement to my other impressions. DiCaprio is a very fine actor, with a remarkable face. His boyish looks are a high bar for him to maneuver in creating a believable tough guy, and he clears this hurdle easily, powerfully. Matt Damon is a natural as a Boston street smart cop. Mark Wahlberg likewise is a perfect fit as a hard nosed detective. Alec Baldwin is a sheer pleasure to watch, just about stealing all his scenes. And Papa Jack is in great form as an aging, haggard bad ass, past his prime but proudly protecting his turf, the King of the Streets. It gets very gory and grim, a lot of guns and blood, not much left to the imagination. Martin Scorcese uses violence like other directors use dance numbers or musical interludes, as accents and punctuations to expertly developed character studies. It's interesting that their viciousness somehow doesn't define them, but rather, these characters are merely colored and completed by their individual brands of brutality. Scorcese, it seems, has little doubt as to Man's innate inclination for violence, but he is just as shocked and awed by it as we are. He has explored this theme many times, inspiring a legion of imitators and fanatics, and once again breaks new ground with a mesmerizing, if not numbing, barrage of testosterone fueled mayhem and bravado. The love story is weak, like most of Scorcese's female roles usually are. That, I think, is what robs him of the Oscar nearly every time. Yeah, I give it eight bullets out of a full magazine of ten.