The Departed

So we have been neglecting this blog a lot in the past few months. I thought I'd try and revive it a bit...

This movie I waited to see for a long time. Everybody was raving about it, it was nominated for a bunch of Golden Globes, and then won the Oscar for best picture.
So I owed it to myself to see this one, even though I am really not the biggest fan of gangster movies. They are seem alike to me, I don't really get into them that much. But everyone said this one took the cake.
So I borrowed the DVD off my friend and watched it.

I agree, it was a good film, but I still don't get what the absolute frenzie was about. Yes, there are big stars in it. Matt Damon, Leo DiCaprio, Jack Nicholson are magnificient. And the intrigue is ongoing.

But sadly, I couldn't get rid of my detatchment to the gangster flick. I tried, but it's just not my cup of tea. At the end, all I could see were the usual suspects. Good cop, bad cop, mafia lord. And everybody ending up getting their heads blown off.
And this is frustrating because this film is so much more than that.

I enjoyed Scorsese's earlier work much more. Raging Bull, Taxi Driver, Main Streets. I feel he should have won his Oscar back then. I had the feeling like he got it this year because the Academy sort of owed it to him, because his brilliant work had been overlooked for so long. It was about time he got his gold statue.

Don't get me wrong. The Departed is a very good film. I enjoyed it, but was not blown away by it. I will probably give myself a little while, then watch it again. I feel I will like it much more the second time around. I might have been disapointed by it because of all the hype that surrounded it. I was expecting something absolutely extraordinary and I shouldn't have thought it might convert me to the gangster genre.

But if you can't get enough of The Godfather, Goodfellas and the like, you will eat this one up.