I went to see Martin Scorsese’s “The Departed” Friday evening because I had heard such great reviews about it. I loved the original version (Wai Keung Lau’s 2002 Hong Kong film “Infernal Affairs” aka “Mou Gaan Dou”) and that usually makes me reluctant to see a Hollywood remake but hey! It’s Marty Scorsese! And the cast… Jack Nicholson, Leo DiCaprio, Matt Damon, Martin Sheen, Ray Winstone, Mark Wahlberg, Alec Baldwin and Vera Farmiga (who is easily the stand-out from the crowd, not a bad feat considering who she was playing against)… are pretty hard to ignore.
The film… is okay. In many ways it is very similar to the original, a few subtle changes to the plot devices, but pretty much faithful – until, that is, the end. And it was THE ENDING of the original that made the film so great! Unfortunately, either Scorsese or the studio (Warners) decided to go for the happy ass American ending, the hot melted fake butter on your popcorn ending, the John Wayne Isn’t Dead He’s Hiding In Argentina And Getting Ready For His Big Comeback ending.
What a way to blow a movie which could have otherwise been acceptable. Why bother copying a great HK flick, being so faithful to it for two-and-a-half hours and then screwing with the ending? Stoopid, Marty, stoopid.
At least Speilberg didn’t make the film in which case aliens would have appeared at the 120 minute mark and revealed to Frank Costello that he was really from the 4th dimension and had the power to heal enstranged father-son relationships.
What the hell happened to Scorsese? His last great film was Bringing Out The Dead in 1999. Since then he’s misfired with The Aviator and Gangs Of New York. I’m blaming on the DiCaprio factor. Unforunately, Leo is also attached to Marty’s next film The Rise Of Theodore Roosevelt. Let’s face it – Marty need Bobby. Bring back Bobby. Leo just has this Titanic juju that he brings to each film. He’s like the Smelly Car. It doesn’t matter what you do, you’ll never get rid of that Titanic stench from a DiCaprio film.
If you had listened to Cool Shite 2 weeks ago you would have already known this and saved your money 😛
Bring Out The Dead… Cam… really… that is a horrible film, for my vote.. it possibly Marty’s worst film.
Sorry Tony I’m travelling!
Bruce, cmon man. It’s a very underrated film. I loved it. A Paul Schrader screenplay, with Cage, Arquette, Goodmand and TOM THE MAN SIZEMORE.
By the way, I have some shit you’ll like – last night I had dinner with a group of people and one of them was the lady who is the Director of Marketing for Ubisoft, the makers of SPLINTER CELL. So we got talking about MICHAEL IRONSIDE and what a frakkin god he is. She’s met him and had some interesting stuff to share that I’ll tell you offline.
Mate, I have to agree with you whole heartedly. I loved the whole “Mou Gan Dou” trilogy. I definitely felt that Leo’s portrayal didn’t bring nearly as much heartbreak as Tony Leung did in the original.
Very disappointed in the whole thing. I too went in with high expectations given the director, the cast and the lineage of the original film. And the soundtrack? Forget about it!
Just not as much flair and style as the HK original. Boo Marty, Boooo!
OMG, you’re an idiot….
How could you think this movie was that bad? I happened to love it as well as the Aviator and Gangs of New York is one my my favortie movies.
Hopefully no one takes your advice, and they go and see this great movie.
Well Megs the good news for Martin Scorsese is that most of the American reviewers agree with you. I’m not suggesting people shouldn’t see the movie – it’s better than most of the crap Hollywood churns out and certainly better than Scorsese’s last few films. I’m just saying I think Scorsese screwed it up by changing the ending to make it all happy Hollywood. If he’s been faithful to the original ending, it would have been a respectful re-make, not as good as the original, but respectful. But screwing with the ending ruined it IMHO.