Interesting, but certainly not Scorsese at his best

Rating: 6/10 (21 February 2007)

This film is based on the Chinese (Hong Kong) thriller "Infernal Affairs", which in my modest opinion was much better than Scorsese's version. Certainly the editing, the directing and the acting of The Departed are all more sophisticated and more spectacular than in the Chinese film, but they sometimes tend to outshine the plot, like people wearing dinner jackets at their children's birthday party. The Departed is basically the story of two police officers working as undercover agents: Leonardo DiCaprio (who is the good guy) infiltrates a criminal organisation run by Jack Nicholson (whose performance is sometimes too over the top to be credible), whereas Matt Damon (the bad guy) is a mole for that same criminal organisation but working inside the police headquarters. The characters, though generally well played, are therefore not exactly "deep", so the film basically focuses on the twists of the story line, which had to be adapted to American tastes: there had to be a bit of romance (which might as well have been left out, as it is not essential to the film), a few references to growing up in tough neighbourhoods, a lot more violence than is absolutely necessary, a scene where Chinese criminals try to buy technology to develop a nuclear bomb (the "Iranian" and "Korean" scare), etc. These new, extra elements make the film much longer than the original version, and the last hour is painfully long as viewers are treated to a succession of boring scenes that only delay the conclusion everyone is hoping for. Martin Scorsese directed his best films in the 70s and 80s (especially classics like Taxi Driver and Raging Bull), but his more recent works have been rather disappointing: Gangs of New York was a rambling mega production about two-dimensional characters settling their scores amid no story at all; The Aviator was another mega production without a real story; The Departed is yet another millionaire production with a stellar cast but badly in need of a good plot. Has Scorsese lost his touch? Or are some viewers just not as easily convinced by his work when there are much better films like The Queen, Pan's Labyrinth, Babel or Little Children around?