The Taiwan thriller gets a touch of Scorsese

Rating: Null/10 (18 July 2012)

Like most Scorsese's movies you get a feeling of being in a concert with a mixture of soul, classic rock and pop.
'Gimme Shelter' by The Rolling Stones is one of Scorsese's favorite song and the movie thus begins with the song in background with Frank Costello briefing about the colored inhabitants of Boston and why America got independence.
Frank Costello, played by Jack Nicholson, eclipses all the performances by Joe Pesci put together in Scorsese's films. And no one could have done it remotely close to Jack's performance which is why Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences felt an Oscar would be too demeaning for an actor of Jack's stature.
In his academy award acceptance speech for the long-due Oscar for the Best Director, Scorsese mentioned Monahan's brilliant screen-writing as a 'crazy script' and you have to nod your heads for Scorsese's acumen.
The script demands every actor to play a lead role and a supporting role as well. Alec Baldwin comes next in the list of performances in this 'Modern day masterpiece' with jokes delivered with a deadpan face and a rather grave voice that you could hardly realize he was joking after all.
The movie is adapted from 'Mou Gaan Dou' but it will remain an epic Hollywood remake for at least half a century hence. 'Mou Gaan Dou' was awesome in every essence and i wished 'The Departed' ended in a similar fashion. The suspense that existed when watching Mou Gaan Dou for the first time doesn't exist when you watch The Departed for obvious reasons but Scorsese provides a real entertainer.
Scorsese, Monahan, Schoonmaker and Graham King were all conferred with the coveted statuette while the actors were too good for one Oscar. So are the makers of the original movie.