The Departed (the let's-get-Marty-tied-with-3 6 Mafia thread)

I thought some of the Irish elements of the movie rang pretty true, particularly the lace curtain-vs.-shanty stuff.
Nicholson goes big, but it works. He showed that he's capable of a subtle role in 'What about Schmidt.' But people like Nicholson playing bigger than life if: A) the movie's good and 2) the performance works. Someone should get Pacino to apply those two standards.
I thought Sheen's performance was alright. It's a minor role, but there are those kind of stoic, straight-laced religious Irish guys of a certain age.
I was so engrossed in the story, I didn't really question much of what the plot assumes. DiCaprio finds the shrinks place? He's a smart guy and a cop, and she's got three weeks left on the lease even after she starts to move into Damon's place. DiCaprio can't think of an excuse for being late to the warehouse? He's been cracking up under the pressure already and he just saw Sheen get thrown off of a building from such a close vantage point that he was sprayed with blood, and that experience was followed immediately by being caught in the middle of a gun fight. Also, I don't know if 'caught in traffic' is an acceptable excuse in the gangster business.
Anyway, I loved the movie.
Columbo, I take it from your comment that we have different taste in movies. That's cool.

 

Mr Buck,

Yeah, but ...

You can say that caught in traffic doesn't cut it. Okay. But when he walks out of the room after giving his birthdate and numbers (after being told the boss wants you to stay) ... that doesn't out him completely? He might as well have flashed a badge.

Plot's nadir: The deathbed question about the address -- and the demise thereafter -- assumes that the viewer will believe anything.

The Irish t-shirt on Jack was piling on.

YHS, etc

 

Walking out after everybody on the crew provided their personal info was the bit that bugged me.

 

I saw it today and thought it was outstanding. I may see it again just to put all the pieces together. Alec Baldwin's best work since Glengarry.

I didn't think it was better than Goodfellas, but it was close.

 

As I wrote elsewhere:

I thought The Deported was a swing and a miss by Scorsese. The first third sounded like it was written by David Mamet, with cracklin' diaglogue, but then it goes downhill. The very last shot in the film is very controversial here in Hollywood -- Leo was asked about it at a press screening a colleague went to and he responded, "It was fine by me," but most observers found it (the last shot) campy.

SPOILERS BELOW:







...I'll add that the movie really lost me when Leo and Damon are riding down the elevator together at the end and NEITHER ONE SAYS ANYTHING! We wanted a verbal confrontation to go with the violence, but Scorcese didn't deliver.

The (new) wife suggested a better ending: One in which Jack Nicholson has to choose between his two "sons," say, by giving himself up to Leo in a dramatic standoff in which he kills Matt who has a gun to Leo's head. Woulda made for a more interesting moral take.

 

SPOILER ALERT SPOILER ALERT





can anyone explain what the deal was with leo giving the shrink the envelope? i mean we all know what was in the envelope but why did we not learn anything about it when something did, in fact, happen to leo? do we assume it was because nicholson's lawyer contacted leo with the tapes? or do we assume that shrink read it and that's why she dissed matt damon at the funeral (and also because it's leo's baby)?i'm a pretty smart guy but sometimes subtleties like these don't hit me right away.

and what's the controversy about the last shot?

 

I wondered the same thing about the envelope. I'm guessing his story was in there and he gave it to her because he wasn't sure how the deal with the cds would play out. It became moot when she opened the package with the cd in it and learned who Damon really was.

They certainly could have made that clearer because I would have liked a scene with her opening the envelope and reading what was inside.

The movie was already about 2 1/2 hours, so I'm guessing Scorsese had to do a lot of chopping. I might have preferred he make two movies, with the first ending when Sheen died.

 

It's my belief the envelope said call Marky Mark (can't remember his character's name) and tell him all about Matt Damon; hence why he said to open it if anything happened to him and also why we see Marky Mark at the end.

 

Lantaur's got it right. I read it the same way. (Spoilers)



Outstanding film. Best line I've read about it so far called Matt Damon "Bad Will Hunting." Some of his best stuff is when he's unbelievably evil, like in "Ripley." Vermiga was great, perfectly torn between the two, then shifting slowly through the second half.

I want to go see it again, just to pick up on the little things. Glad to see Cuthbert's boyfriend from "24" has moved on to bigger things. Now if only the cougar could get some movie roles ...

 

Outstanding.

Saw it tonight, and was totally enthralled. Best actors in this film, in order: 1) Leo. 2) Marky Mark. 3) Jack. 4) Martin. 5) Matt.

 

I didn't think any more dialogue was needed in the elevator. They had said pretty much everything they needed to say to each other up on the roof.
And the silence added to the tension.

 

Nicholson tried his best to ruin this film, but overall, it was still decent. The problem is people WANT this film to be good so damn badly, and it just doesn't quite live up to that, so I think a lot of people are talking themselves into believing it was better than it actually was.

The last shot, as many have pointed out, was insulting and embarrassing. For the life of me, I can't understand why Marty wanted it in the film. A simple shot of the statehouse from the window of Damon's apartment would have been so much better.

Leo is growing on me. I thought he was excellent.