so it was all about . . . nothing

Rating: 6/10 (28 January 2007)

Just saw The Departed this afternoon and have to say that after all the hype--billed as a return to form for Scorsese--I am very disappointed. Gangs of New York is far superior as far as his recent outings go.
Scorsese's recent transference of old familiar themes (religion, sex, racism, violent pursuit of "success") from Italian Americans to Irish Americans is an admirable pursuit, but somehow not as meditatively treated as in the old days. At 2 1/2 hours, he may as well have given us a 3-hour movie with more heart and introspection. Somehow I felt that I could've sympathized with either or both of the main characters, if only I was given more background--not words, but actions. It felt like, OK, here's Matt Damon and here's Leonardo DiCaprio, you've seen them before, so why go into their backgrounds or histories. Too bad, because it could've been so rich, especially for the Damon character--as the "traitor" he was also capable of moments of real warmth and ambivalence.
Jack Nicholson did a good job, as always, but sometimes I felt like it was a joke for him--are we watching the character or the actor? He did not bring the weight to the movie that he is capable of, or that a more serious actor such as Daniel Day-Lewis did to his comparably evil Bill the Butcher in Gangs of New York.
And are you kidding me? How could Frank not know who the traitor in his midst was? Why not kill the main suspect just to be safe? His bond with DiCaprio was very weak.
Sorry. I like Matt Damon; he's capable of real depth. Too bad his skills weren't used to their fullest potential. The supporting cast, especially Mark Wahlberg, was solid. I just found myself wondering how much of the movie was contrived to either adhere to or deviate from the original Japanese movie. If it were an original project, maybe Scorsese would've put more love into it.