the departed - 5 stars
i'm sure most of you have seen a 2+ hour long movie by a really talented director, and afterward you're moved and impressed, sure. but you realize you mostly only went to see it because you felt obligated to do so, or because it's important you ground yourself in the canon, and although you have to admit the film as a whole was
very good, you didn't necessarily have a
very good time watching it.
this movie is the opposite of all that garbage. although i do have a tendency, bordering on a compulsion, to see those other movies at some point (isn't that part of what keeps netflix running?), i never ever want to watch them again in my lifetime. i put in my time and i move on. this one, i could probably go back and watch right now.
the departed is the movie where scorcese finally seems to indulge in some FUN for a change. not silliness, but pleasure -- in a really strong story full of enormous characters who are extremely enjoyable to watch play off one another on screen. the time flies by in a way even
goodfellas couldn't keep up until the very end, when things started to unravel and you just wanted to see it get over with. sure, this one could be shorter if they cut a bit out, but as is, it's full end to end of so many cool guys doing badass stuff, it's transfixing.
and almost every guy that gets any amount of lines has multiple prizewinning quotables. as dom pointed out to me, this could be because the screenplay was adapted by
light house author william monahan, whose book was full of cutting dialogue, and who seems to have been set loose to play on this one. particularly with the scenes involving alec baldwin's character that were always a treat.
but lest you think it was all fun and games, this is also a tense and very violent movie at the same time, which is why it's so rich and rewatchable. it's disturbing and nerve-wracking at the same time it's making you grin. but you've gotta imagine that these tough-as-nails guys, involved with deception and murder on a daily basis, are kind of having fun doing it. otherwise they wouldn't be who they are. ultimately that's what makes it so great, is that it's an up close and personal look at the kind of characters you expect to populate the underworld, and the tricky interwoven web of egos and lies they're doomed to navigate. of course its bound to end in blood for almost everyone involved, but goddamn if it isn't exciting along the way.
brought to you by Brian Longtin and the number 1 at 5:27 PM.
|
.......
