Mar 28, 2024
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"The Departed"

This is what you want in a Martin Scorsese film: beautifully edited, brutally violent sequences, brimming with life even as bodies are hitting the floor, all awash in a blaring Rolling Stones song. (In this case, "Gimme Shelter," again.) Even though this is an Americanized version of the 2002 Hong Kong hit "Infernal Affairs," it’s vintage Scorsese _ for a while at least.

The veteran director has made two-thirds of a great film about Boston cops and mobsters, with rich, meaty performances from a dizzyingly stellar cast and an ambience that screams Scorsese’s typical cultural authenticity. (It’s as if the fellas from "GoodFellas" took a road trip up I-95.) Leonardo DiCaprio, reuniting with the director for a third film, stars as a Massachusetts State Police detective who’s gone undercover to take down a crime boss (Jack Nicholson). Matt Damon, meanwhile, stars as the crime boss’s protege, who’s been working his way up the state police ranks. Each of them is asked to sniff out the rat _ to seek out each other. It’s a clever premise and it can be thrilling, but "The Departed" is also about a half hour too long, and tends to drag just when it should be at its most intense.

Christy Lemire (AP)

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Movies

"The Departed"

This is what you want in a Martin Scorsese film: beautifully edited, brutally violent sequences, brimming with life even as bodies are hitting the floor, all awash in a blaring Rolling Stones song. (In this case, "Gimme Shelter," again.) Even though this is an Americanized version of the 2002 Hong Kong hit "Infernal Affairs," it’s vintage Scorsese _ for a while at least.

The veteran director has made two-thirds of a great film about Boston cops and mobsters, with rich, meaty performances from a dizzyingly stellar cast and an ambience that screams Scorsese’s typical cultural authenticity. (It’s as if the fellas from "GoodFellas" took a road trip up I-95.) Leonardo DiCaprio, reuniting with the director for a third film, stars as a Massachusetts State Police detective who’s gone undercover to take down a crime boss (Jack Nicholson). Matt Damon, meanwhile, stars as the crime boss’s protege, who’s been working his way up the state police ranks. Each of them is asked to sniff out the rat _ to seek out each other. It’s a clever premise and it can be thrilling, but "The Departed" is also about a half hour too long, and tends to drag just when it should be at its most intense.

Christy Lemire (AP)

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Movies

"The Departed"

This is what you want in a Martin Scorsese film: beautifully edited, brutally violent sequences, brimming with life even as bodies are hitting the floor, all awash in a blaring Rolling Stones song. (In this case, "Gimme Shelter," again.) Even though this is an Americanized version of the 2002 Hong Kong hit "Infernal Affairs," it’s vintage Scorsese _ for a while at least.

The veteran director has made two-thirds of a great film about Boston cops and mobsters, with rich, meaty performances from a dizzyingly stellar cast and an ambience that screams Scorsese’s typical cultural authenticity. (It’s as if the fellas from "GoodFellas" took a road trip up I-95.) Leonardo DiCaprio, reuniting with the director for a third film, stars as a Massachusetts State Police detective who’s gone undercover to take down a crime boss (Jack Nicholson). Matt Damon, meanwhile, stars as the crime boss’s protege, who’s been working his way up the state police ranks. Each of them is asked to sniff out the rat _ to seek out each other. It’s a clever premise and it can be thrilling, but "The Departed" is also about a half hour too long, and tends to drag just when it should be at its most intense.

Christy Lemire (AP)

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

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