Just got back from watching The Departed. Indeed, as the critics say: Martin Scorsese is back! It's no Mean Streets, but I liked it even more than Goodfellas. (I didn't care much for Casino or Gangs of New York, and missed The Aviator.)
Violent? Yes, but not unnecessarily or sadistically so (unlike many other movies in theaters these days). What I liked the most was the acting, with some of the best that Hollywood has to offer: Leonardo DiCaprio, Matt Damon, Mark Wahlberg, Jack Nicholson, Martin Sheen, Alec Baldwin, all do great work. Among all that testosterone, the one female lead, Vera Farmiga, does quite well too.
I thought the movie was near-perfect for its genre. A couple of Scorcese's more annoying traits from previous movies are absent: the overuse of rock music, and the Joe -Pesci-psycho-comic-type character. (The music was fine: a very appropriate "Gimme Shelter," plus, I was actually pleasantly surprised to catch the Van Morrison rendition of "Comfortably Numb," from Roger Water's The Wall in Berlin, also tastefully used.) And hey, Nicholson did not overact as much as some reviews accuse him of doing!
Academy, listen up: this is your chance to finally give the man the Oscar for Best Director, with no embarrasment for anyone involved. DiCaprio should get some Oscar or other as well, while we're at it...
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JPF says that he liked "Goodfellas" better, and "Mean Streets" less.
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