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Sunday, May 11, 2008

THE DEPARTED (2006)

Martin Scorsese must have been slightly bemused when at long last he got all those big yr-end awards & unblemished critical kudos for helming a Boston-based detective thriller that's more like a Michael Mann pic. It's an elaboration of the superior Hong Kong movie INFERNAL AFFAIRS (see below), think DONNIE BRASCO meets L.A. CONFIDENTIAL, a twisty cops & mobsters revenge tale that gets better as it goes along. Scorsese always goes into technical overdrive when he’s bored (remember those krazy kinetic billiard ball shots in COLOR OF MONEY?), but as the narrative comes to a boil, he pares things down and lets his over-qualified cast run unfettered. (Here, the all-star cast is something of a power play, a form of bullying.) Leo DiCaprio & Mark Wahlburg come off best, while Matt Damon never gets a handle on his role. (His less gifted pal Ben Affleck might have been better suited with his natural air of party boy deception.) The finale & coda show Scorsese at his most tone deaf. Is it supposed to be this funny?

WATCH THIS, NOT THAT/LINK: Obviously, INFERNAL AFFAIRS (MOU GAAN DOU)/'02, the Hong Kong original is the way to go.  https://maksquibs.blogspot.com/2008/05/infernal-affairs-2002.html

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