I just saw "The Departed" at the movies. I thought it was pretty good for a hollywood remake. I went in and didn't even know what the movie was about, then 10 mins into the movie i could tell it was a remake of the HK movie series "Infernal affairs". i was prepared to be disspointed but after the movie i just realise i never appreciated the quality of a top hollywood cast on a story.
I like the fact the departed didn't just copy or clone from infernal affairs. i found the irish mob very intriguing but that's probably because i don't live in the US and never knew anything about Irish gangsters.
The individual performance is much much much much better than the casts in the HK version. It was pretty funny at times when goes psycho on lenardo decaprio. (sry i forgot their screen names).
overall i liked this version much better than the HK version.
post ur thoughts!
p.s. i've never seen a thread about this. now, i live in Australia so most likely the states has already screened this so a spoiler tag is probably unneccary.
saw it last weekend and thought it was a fantastic film, although i think the movie is just infernal affairs with a much, much higher budget and an overall much more talented cast. andy lau and tony leung were amazing in infernal affairs, but their supporting cast wasn't so great (except for eric tsang and anthony wong).
i'm not going to post any spoilers, but if you've already seen infernal affairs, the departed is still suspenseful, despite the fact that you already know what's going to happen.
i like infernal affairs too. but i think they overdone it with 2 sequels. the first one was original and cool. the second one was okay, nothing out of the ordinary except extending the storyline. the third one was overstreching a bit with them introducing the new police mole and he fall in love with the boss's wife. i think they tried to squeece every money out of it and turn it into another matrix series. -_-
the departed was not original but it was also very refreshing. decaprio was too good. jack nickolson was his usual playing a role best suited for him. matt damon was a bit off his mark but not by much. i still don't get why the dying irish gangster didn't tell on decaprio when he is dying. was he also a cop when the t.v. announced that he is?
andy lau and tony leung is absolutely no match for matt and leon in the same role. although i must admit they had different focus in mind. the HK cast are much more mature while the hollywood emphasise on the two young cop. both described their respective environment pretty well.
the ending wasn't as good. but it impressed most people who haven't seen the elevator bad cop shooting good cop then bad cop shoot bad cop scene from the original infernal affairs. i thought costello's demise came too soon. it didn't make sense if u compare it with the original. he died because he was too cocky basically but a legendary crime boss is not suppose to be like that? (then again i probably compared it with a triad boss in mind)and why did constigan tried to warn him before the cops come? that was basically the only part of the movie which showed his affection for costello. now i thought about, the story line was a bit weak, they adapted most of the infernal affair's good scenes but the hints are not obvious enough if u haven't seen original but i think the individual performance was enough to make up for that. the dialogues are absolutely art.
overall hollywood casting + a above average adaptation of the original HK plot = 4/5 for me.
I watched the Departed the day it came out. Wanted to make a thread but last time I did that it got like 5 replies (for the awesome masterpiece that is Crank).
Major Spoilers:
Anyways, the point of my next few paragraphs is: Departed was great, IA is much better.
I think one thing Departed had done well was its casting. Leonardo DiCaprio pretty much impressed me in every single way, he's not that 15 year old looking kid in Titanic anymore. Mark Wahlberg was also very very entertaining. Overall, great performances by everyone.
What sets off Departed is the way each element was built up. Matt Damon HAD to die at the end because he was not set up the same way as Andy Lau in IA. In IA, you felt some more compassion towards Andy Lau, not so much for Matt Damon who was just potrayed as a mother fucker the whole way through. On a psychological level, IA went deeper and absorbed you into the storyline and its characters, while Departed pretty much gave you its facts, tried to create some sort of psychological thrill on DiCaprio's part, etc. What I mean is that Departed missed out on some subtle, yet slightly important things. I think DiCaprio was only in the mob for 1 year? I forget IA, but I think Tony Leung had been in the Triad for MUCH longer. Little things like that set up the character, but Scorsese didn't use it (then again, DiCaprio and Matt Damon are young compared to Lau/Leung).
Most cool scenes in Departed (except the very last scene which was necessary) was blatantly taken off of IA. However, despite this, they neglected to use the greatest scene of all: Tony Leung holding the gun to Andy Lau's head as the camera pans around and everything. When I saw this in IA, I was like OHOHOHO SHIT. Nothing captured me as much as this scene in Departed.
Finally, one thing that bothered me was that DiCaprio died in the dumbest way possible. It was the same way how Tony Leung died, just without..any excitement or build up or anything to it. In Departed, DiCaprio just got shot and was given a brief "wtf" moment afterwards, then continued. In IA, when Tony Leung was shot it was in slow motion, with dramatic music playing and everything.
Despite all of that, Departed was still done very well. Aside from some slight plot holes/confusing parts (that I think will be cleared up in the DVD release anyway), it was extremely entertaining. My friends who I went with that never saw IA absolutely loved the movie, while I didn't like it as much as they did (simply since I saw IA before). I still recommend everyone to watch this movie, hell I'd even watch it again. Stunning performances, seriously grabs you by the balls. All in all, good adaption of a legendary movie.
On October 14 2006 13:39 PanoRaMa wrote: Finally, one thing that bothered me was that DiCaprio died in the dumbest way possible. It was the same way how Tony Leung died, just without..any excitement or build up or anything to it. In Departed, DiCaprio just got shot and was given a brief "wtf" moment afterwards, then continued. In IA, when Tony Leung was shot it was in slow motion, with dramatic music playing and everything.
i think that was done purposely. maybe the director made a decision to kill him in the fastest fashion because he didn't think the foreign audience would appreciate the dramatic style displayed in the HK version. constigan's tragic characterization was well conveyed before that scene and the departed was moving at a faster pace than infernal affairs. i thought the way constigan died was very appriopriate.
Departed was alright, but I felt every suspenseful moment was done much better in IA. It made it hard for me to enjoy because I like IA so much. I even like IA2 and 3. They server their purpose and manage to be different movies, though IA3 wasn't too hot I will admit.
It was ok but not as great as all the reviews made it out to be. The actors did a good but the story especially from the point Nicholson dies till the end was confusing. Could have been done a lot better I think.
Pardon me for bumping an old thread, but what the fuck happened? Costello was FBI informant? where the fuck is that coming from all of a sudden? Why was he an FBI informant? Who the fuck is Damon then? How the fuck did Damon find out that he was an FBI informant? How did Wahlberg find out Damon was a bad guy? Why did he kill him in such a hitman fashion? Is he also involved? What the fuck happened in this fucking movie?;(
costello confused me at the end with the fbi stuff. why would he be in that role for so long as an fbi guy? damon was the kid who got groceries in the begining from costello. i think there was a leak at one of the police meetings that there was an fbi guy in there. wahlberg found out because of the package that leonardo decaprio left the psychiatrist. i think the audio file was in there. the hitman fashion was cuz rather then take him to court, he wanted to make sure that damon was taken care of, leaving no possibility of charges being dropped. prolly also cuz he was the reason the chief died and that leo and everyone else died. gloves n shit were to make sure theres no prints.
On November 07 2006 19:12 Sfydjklm wrote: Pardon me for bumping an old thread, but what the fuck happened? Costello was FBI informant? where the fuck is that coming from all of a sudden? Why was he an FBI informant? Who the fuck is Damon then? How the fuck did Damon find out that he was an FBI informant? How did Wahlberg find out Damon was a bad guy? Why did he kill him in such a hitman fashion? Is he also involved? What the fuck happened in this fucking movie?;(
Costello is an FBI imformat, which is why the Boston PD could never build a federal case against him, so he had that protection, I forget when Matt Damon finds out, but i think its when he is put in charge of the investigation after Walberg's partner is thrown off the building and killed. Walberg found out probably from the envelope Dicaprio left the psychologist he was fucking. Dicaprio said to give it to him after weeks when he was dead, my guess is, it xplains everything and implicates Damon. He killed him that way im guessin cuz he wasn't a cop anymore and would be in a shit load of trouble if its traced back to him. Damon was a cop after all, u don't wanna kill a cop and get caught. Did u goto this movie drunk or somethin...damn, wasnt that hard to understand, go watch it a second time...great movie
On November 07 2006 19:12 Sfydjklm wrote: Pardon me for bumping an old thread, but what the fuck happened? Costello was FBI informant? where the fuck is that coming from all of a sudden? Why was he an FBI informant? Who the fuck is Damon then? How the fuck did Damon find out that he was an FBI informant? How did Wahlberg find out Damon was a bad guy? Why did he kill him in such a hitman fashion? Is he also involved? What the fuck happened in this fucking movie?;(
Costello is an FBI imformat, which is why the Boston PD could never build a federal case against him, so he had that protection, I forget when Matt Damon finds out, but i think its when he is put in charge of the investigation after Walberg's partner is thrown off the building and killed. Walberg found out probably from the envelope Dicaprio left the psychologist he was fucking. Dicaprio said to give it to him after weeks when he was dead, my guess is, it xplains everything and implicates Damon. He killed him that way im guessin cuz he wasn't a cop anymore and would be in a shit load of trouble if its traced back to him. Damon was a cop after all, u don't wanna kill a cop and get caught. Did u goto this movie drunk or somethin...damn, wasnt that hard to understand, go watch it a second time...great movie
Well, there is that. I was lying yesterday in bed and i answered some of my own questions. However i still have some really big ones. Like why would a crime boss become a federal informant? Or why would Damon set up his boss? He wanted to go legit is my guess, but it doesnt quite cut it. Why the change of mind all of a sudden?
Frank was an FBI informant, but as he said to damon before he died, he didn't bring anyone down that wouldn't have gone down anyways. so he just made sure that the PD would never be able to build a case against him by telling the FBI things they would've found out by themselves eventually. Damon feared that Frank had told the FBI about his role and thus wanted revenge.
EPT
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