The Departed
One of my more personally maligned tendencies in the past few years has been my lack of attention to pop culture outside of music and sports trivia. I'm okay at following celebrity gossip, but I rarely read books, I hate network television, and I rarely watch movies. Ever since I splurged to buy 24 DVDs at once with my expiring employee discount at Hollywood Video back in 2003, I've basically gone into a movie-watching drought.
The main problem, for me, is that I'm a multi-tasker. I can listen to music, browse the Internet, and watch a sporting event on TV all at the same time. When you watch a movie, you don't get anything out of it if you're not putting all your attention into it. I just can't work like that most of the time.
I've been missing out, clearly. The list of essential movies that I've never seen could be miles long. I've never seen any of The Godfather movies. I've never seen a single Quentin Tarantino flick. I've never seen any of the Alien movies. Apocalypse Now, 2001: A Space Odyssey, Twelve Monkeys, V for Vendetta, Million Dollar Baby, Snatch. All classics, all unwatched by yours truly. I somehow managed to see all the Star Wars movies, but I never got around to seeing Episode III, which you'd think would be of high priority considering it ties all the movies together. But no. I'm a bad movie watcher.
I went to see The Departed last night, directed by Martin Scorcese (who directed Goodfellas and numerous other classics). As I walked home from the theater, a stiff cold wind of change came upon me. I'm just going to say it right now--this movie may have been the best I've ever seen. It's definitely up there, in the top five, easily. It inspired me. It wasn't a very inspirational movie, but it resonated with me very clearly. It made me angry at myself that I'd been missing out on all these Scorcese movies and all these other films that are supposedly better than The Departed. If I can get that kind of connection from this movie, imagine what I'd get from some of the other classics.
Music will always be my first love, but over the next couple months I'm going to make a concerted effort to scratch as many movies off my to-watch list as possible (within reason, of course). Know why? I want to be able to write about movies. I'm even thinking of switching to the Film/TV beat next semester, all thanks to The Departed. I want to expand my horizons (and give the film/tv beat its due). But I've got to learn the ropes of cinema first. Before I do that, though, I'm going to try to learn to write about movies. Here's my first attempt.
Hollywood blockbusters can often end up in more "bust" than anything else. Part of the Hollywood formula is throwing together an ill-advised cast of leading men and ladies who can't realistically work together to make their scenes work. The hope is that the names alone will attract a large audience, and often quality scripts and direction are thrown to the wayside in favor of star power.
When you put together Jack Nicholson, Leonardo DiCaprio, Matt Damon, Martin Sheen and Mark Wahlberg, you're in great danger of producing one of those ill-advised flops. Fortunately, The Departed has legendary director Martin Scorcese at the helm, and he steers the ship straight.
The film, set in Boston, details the intricate inner-working relationship between the police force and an Irish mob boss (Nicholson) and the high potential for back-stabbing in such a relationship. Nicholson is a master of his craft as always, compelling the audience in every one of his scenes. But even with a legend like Nicholson casting his shadow on the production, the shining light of the film is DiCaprio, who plays an undercover cop caught in the middle of Boston's web of crime. He is near-perfect, and when he and Nicholson share the camera, it's like Muhammad Ali trading blows with an up-and-coming George Foreman. DiCaprio shows in The Departed that he can take any role, no matter how large or how difficult, and completely knock it out of the park. He is the future of Hollywood.
The script for the film unfolds like a Shakespearean tragedy, and the stunning climax and ensuing resolution are nothing short of amazing. I literally had my mouth agape for the majority of my walk home from the theater.
Though the script was adapted from a Chinese film set in Hong Kong, Scorcese makes the Boston setting a comfortable (or, perhaps more fittingly, an uncomfortable) one for the film. The actors do their part, nailing the hard-to-handle Boston accent as well. There is a genuine feel of belonging to the surroundings with every scene. Scorcese also does a terrific job of forcing tension between his characters. Damon's cool, casual demeanor is the perfect foil for Wahlberg's over-the-top, gritty attitude. DiCaprio's towheaded yet tentative aura is perfectly matched by Nicholson's overbearing, commanding power.
For a film to combine such perfect tension with a comfortable atmosphere is an incredible rarity, especially when it seems as though so many big names can tend to cause ego overload in a film. Scorcese takes the talents of his actors and maximizes them, turning The Departed from the run-0f-the-mill star-studded crime drama to an absolute masterpiece.
Grade: A
The main problem, for me, is that I'm a multi-tasker. I can listen to music, browse the Internet, and watch a sporting event on TV all at the same time. When you watch a movie, you don't get anything out of it if you're not putting all your attention into it. I just can't work like that most of the time.
I've been missing out, clearly. The list of essential movies that I've never seen could be miles long. I've never seen any of The Godfather movies. I've never seen a single Quentin Tarantino flick. I've never seen any of the Alien movies. Apocalypse Now, 2001: A Space Odyssey, Twelve Monkeys, V for Vendetta, Million Dollar Baby, Snatch. All classics, all unwatched by yours truly. I somehow managed to see all the Star Wars movies, but I never got around to seeing Episode III, which you'd think would be of high priority considering it ties all the movies together. But no. I'm a bad movie watcher.
I went to see The Departed last night, directed by Martin Scorcese (who directed Goodfellas and numerous other classics). As I walked home from the theater, a stiff cold wind of change came upon me. I'm just going to say it right now--this movie may have been the best I've ever seen. It's definitely up there, in the top five, easily. It inspired me. It wasn't a very inspirational movie, but it resonated with me very clearly. It made me angry at myself that I'd been missing out on all these Scorcese movies and all these other films that are supposedly better than The Departed. If I can get that kind of connection from this movie, imagine what I'd get from some of the other classics.
Music will always be my first love, but over the next couple months I'm going to make a concerted effort to scratch as many movies off my to-watch list as possible (within reason, of course). Know why? I want to be able to write about movies. I'm even thinking of switching to the Film/TV beat next semester, all thanks to The Departed. I want to expand my horizons (and give the film/tv beat its due). But I've got to learn the ropes of cinema first. Before I do that, though, I'm going to try to learn to write about movies. Here's my first attempt.
Hollywood blockbusters can often end up in more "bust" than anything else. Part of the Hollywood formula is throwing together an ill-advised cast of leading men and ladies who can't realistically work together to make their scenes work. The hope is that the names alone will attract a large audience, and often quality scripts and direction are thrown to the wayside in favor of star power.
When you put together Jack Nicholson, Leonardo DiCaprio, Matt Damon, Martin Sheen and Mark Wahlberg, you're in great danger of producing one of those ill-advised flops. Fortunately, The Departed has legendary director Martin Scorcese at the helm, and he steers the ship straight.
The film, set in Boston, details the intricate inner-working relationship between the police force and an Irish mob boss (Nicholson) and the high potential for back-stabbing in such a relationship. Nicholson is a master of his craft as always, compelling the audience in every one of his scenes. But even with a legend like Nicholson casting his shadow on the production, the shining light of the film is DiCaprio, who plays an undercover cop caught in the middle of Boston's web of crime. He is near-perfect, and when he and Nicholson share the camera, it's like Muhammad Ali trading blows with an up-and-coming George Foreman. DiCaprio shows in The Departed that he can take any role, no matter how large or how difficult, and completely knock it out of the park. He is the future of Hollywood.
The script for the film unfolds like a Shakespearean tragedy, and the stunning climax and ensuing resolution are nothing short of amazing. I literally had my mouth agape for the majority of my walk home from the theater.
Though the script was adapted from a Chinese film set in Hong Kong, Scorcese makes the Boston setting a comfortable (or, perhaps more fittingly, an uncomfortable) one for the film. The actors do their part, nailing the hard-to-handle Boston accent as well. There is a genuine feel of belonging to the surroundings with every scene. Scorcese also does a terrific job of forcing tension between his characters. Damon's cool, casual demeanor is the perfect foil for Wahlberg's over-the-top, gritty attitude. DiCaprio's towheaded yet tentative aura is perfectly matched by Nicholson's overbearing, commanding power.
For a film to combine such perfect tension with a comfortable atmosphere is an incredible rarity, especially when it seems as though so many big names can tend to cause ego overload in a film. Scorcese takes the talents of his actors and maximizes them, turning The Departed from the run-0f-the-mill star-studded crime drama to an absolute masterpiece.
Grade: A
posted by Kevin A. Doran at 7:28 AM
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