21.09.09

Those of you who haven't watched The Departed should make it your mission to do so. It is a classic film with some classic actors in it.

It has so much going for it:
1. Guns. There are lots of guns in The Departed and people use them to shoot each other. A lot. This may not be everybody's cup of tea but I enjoyed it. The film is very... tense. Because people are frequently in danger of dying in horribly blood ways the audience pays attention. Spoiler: lots of people die.
2. Mobster. It is a mobster-copster thriller by Martin Scorcese and is therefore excellent. It is set in the present day but for some reason it felt to me like it was set in the past, like a classic gangster film. It has a sort of out-of-time quality I guess. Released in 2006, and based upon the 2002 Hong Kong film Infernal Affairs, The Departed is a classic modern mobster flick.
3. Jack Nicholson. I really like this guy, particularly after watching him perform as Private Investigator Jake Gittes in Chinatown (great film), and in The Departed Jack is Jake's antithesis. The head of the Irish Mob, Frank Costello is the reason that nothing makes sense in Chinatown, he is the cancer, the source of pure evil which destroys reason. And he is excellent. I really enjoyed comparing and contrasting Jack's portrayal of Frank with his portrayal of Jake. Both are distinctly Nicholson performances and yet they are at opposite ends of the morality spectrum. Nicholson captures the vitality of the gangster period perfectly, probably because he was one when he was younger, or moved in those circles. He also has one of those voices that I could listen to all day. Like Morgan Freeman. Which is why I liked The Bucket List.
4. Other actors. The Departed has some other actors, some of which are not too bad. Here's a list: Leonardo DiCaprio, Matthew Damon, Alec Baldwin, Mark Wahlberg. Pretty good aye? Might sound a little bit homo because I've only listed male actors, but to be honest there are only like one or two female characters anyway. Vera Farmiga, who plays a police psychologist, is the only female actress of note and even if you recognise her, you probably won't know where from (she was in The Manchuraian Candidate and The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas). In any event, she sleeps with both DiCaprio AND Damon in the course of the film, so was clearly only included as eye candy, which is a little bit sad. That's why my list of good actors was all male. Upon second consideration, the film might be a little bit sexist, but then so are mobsters; you should still watch it.

I haven't included much of a plot synopsis because that would spoil things. But you should watch this trailer.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=klT94Krv2M0&feature=related

I'm sorry I don't know how to embed video yet so you're going to have to follow the link. Can someone help me out?

You should watch this following clip if you want proof of point 1.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lak0__k8icw&feature=related