No respect!

Rating: 4/10 (18 July 2009)

This remake of "Internal Affairs", a great movie in its own right, adds a Whitey Bulger-John Connolly Boston twist that just BEGS for brilliance - it's a can't-miss story line with a powerhouse cast.
However, it's a huge disappointment. Despite such compelling material, Scorsese only skims the surface, opting for gloss instead of substance, adding confusing sub-plots that serve mainly to hook the audience. These sub-plots destroy the momentum of the film and pull the whole thing off the tracks. Without these (no spoilers), the film may have had a chance. Scorsese's trademark violence stingers are now overripe at best. Am I the only one who started to yawn when people were getting pounded over a loud soundtrack in "Casino"? I doubt it...
There is some pretty silly ensemble work here, too - we're not talking "Glenngary Glen Ross" or "The Usual Suspects" here by any stretch. Most of the bad highlights usually involve Wahlberg's profane fool of a character. Overall, the individual characterizations seem to be either shrill, as in the case of the annoying Wahlberg and chest-thumping Damon, or flat, like Sheen's police captain. Nicholson's Whitey Bulger take is completely lacking in menace - it's amusing, if nothing else. Only DiCaprio's brooding Billy Costigan stands out, but he's got nowhere to go, both literally and figuratively - the sub-plots basically turn his character to face the wall...
Much has been made of the ending here, but I would describe it with one word - "cowardly". I just couldn't respect this film much, particularly in light of "GoodFellas" and other Scorsese masterpieces. Overall, 4 stars and only because it's him - probably the worst best picture Oscar since "American Beauty".