The Departed
 

Just saw it. Excellent movie. Vera Farmiga: HOT!

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I liked it a lot.

fast moving, many sub plots, good acting, some action, uncomplicated, and simple.

Not exactly a Scorsese masterpiece.

worth watching.

fast moving? You must be on different meds than me...

The original makes it look like a bad xerox copy.

as for the eye candy

Sammi Cheng
http://content8.flixster.com/photo/4...892234_tml.jpg

Kelly Chen
http://www.blogonthecusp.com/wp-cont..._kellychen.jpg

Elva Hsiao
http://www.axfly.com/uploads/200701/...va_1087_01.jpg

it was good...not my favorite film and didnt live up to the hype, but was overall a good film and I enjoyed it.
the academy needed an excuse to give Marty his oscar that he probably should have won
on an earlier film.

I loved it...

About 3/4 through the movie my wife was riveted and I was bored. I went upstairs to read and she finished the movie. She was pretty angry that I could just walk off like that. She loved it. Gangster flicks ain't my bag baby.

you just need to see *good* gangster flicks.

I liked it, one problem. On a morning drive I was listening to a Hartford radio station. The F'ing clown, jerko*f, Ahole, said to his sidekick as they were talking about the stars, "to bad they all die in the end". This was a week after the movie came out & before I had seen it. Even the sidekick was taken back. The guy, Sabaston, was trying to be a wiseguy. Needless to say that's the last time I listened to the station. deleted it from the radio buttons also.
Toads.

Underwhelmed. Now, Goodfellas, that was a gangster film.

"You laughing at me? Do you think I'm a clown? Do I amuse you?"
Great flick

I went to high school in Southie/Dorchester (Boston College High School). There was a lot of truth in that movie for me. However, I can and do agree with most of the criticisms of the movie.

Further, the original Hong Kong version, Infernal Affairs was better overall, in my opinion.

I liked the movie, overall. Not one of the greats, but a good movie to sit down to in my living room with my wife and watch on the 56 incher.

Upon Nostatic's recommendation on another "Departed" thread, I finally saw the source material from which this was copied, "Infernal Affairs".

Thanks. While the Departed was pretty good, I liked the HK version better. In short, The Departed: Story - derivative. Execution - good.

Sherwood

My kinda movie!!!
and the "JACK", what can you say?
encore!

In particular, I thought that the difference between the mob bosses was pretty telling. Nicholson was over the top and not very believable imho. Eric Tsang otoh was chilling but likable and totally into the role. Interesting because he is primarily a comedy actor.

Now rent Infernal Affairs 2. You get the backstory of how things got to where they were in the first one. Really well done and you appreciate the first one even more with some of the characters more fleshed out. But whatever you do DO NOT rent Infernal Affairs 3. They screwed the pooch on that one.

Thanks Todd. Will schedule a family viewing hour for no. 2, the first one. That right?

I'll skip the family part. May be too intense.

So why did Nicholson go to the warehouse when he knew the cops would be there? I never understood that part. Were the writers on strike back then too?

Sherwood

Sounds like a movie or two I'll have to check out too.
Thanks T!

IA2 might be a bit much for the family depending on how old the kids are. About the same as IA. It focuses more on how Sam rose to power and uses the same actors that played the "young" main characters.

Nicholson went back into the warehouse because it was a plot device to setup the final scene. They should have just directly ripped off IA instead. The tacked on stuff at the end of the Departed was just inane imho. IA left it somewhat ambiguous...as it should be.

There also is an alternative ending on the DVD. The Chinese govt didn't like the original ending because it made it seem like crime pays. So a second ending was made. This is all tied up in the handover and transition of power in Hong Kong. All very fascinating stuff. If you watch some of Wong Kar Wai's films from the mid 90's, it has a lot to do with the trepidation of the Hong Kong natives about the transfer. National identity, security, etc. It is really interesting to watch these films with a HK native who can explain why/what/where you're seeing and what is behind it. I don't think that any American native really has a reference point for understanding what is tied up in having your society handed over to another country.