Poop Shute

THE DEPARTED

I think I have finally discovered what it is about most movies that does it (or doesn't do it) for me.

It is a very general thing, really. Not any one specific thing, but a broader category of things that I need to see.

I need to see something new. Plain and simple.

I was raised by a film-buff mother who was raised by her film-buff father, I worked in a movie theatre for a year (and saw EVERYTHING that we released that year), I worked at a video store through all of college, and took every film survey class that ASU offered. At this point I have seen SOOoooOOOo many films that the same ol' same ol' just does not do it for me anymore.

And when I say "something new," I don't even mean something completely new. Give me a piece of the same ol' with a different attitude, or from a different point of view, or maybe even a combination of a few same ol's arranged in a new configuration. Some new flavor somewhere can be enough for me.

Departed delivers that here and there. There are moments that I was honestly surprised by the direction the plot went in. But sadly, overall it was mostly more of the same ol' same ol'.

It begins with a very useless bit of cheesey narraration and an even more useless back story connecting the twelve-year old version of Colin Sullivan (Matt Damon) to irish mob boss, Frank Costello (Jack Nicholson). Present day Damon becomes a squeaky clean cop who just happens to be a mole for Nicholson. If the story just started present day in the midst of things we would easily connect that Damon is working for Nicholson, we don't need to know why, and it never really makes a difference to how the story rolls out.

There was one bit however that actually left me wondering who fell asleep at the wheel during post-production. I'm not sure if it should be chalked up to bad editing, or bad writing, but either way it's irritating. There is a scene, near the end where DiCaprio, in a last ditch effort to come out on top, meets with his love-interest. He hands her a sealed envelope and impresses on her that it's of the utmost importance that she hold on to it and ONLY open it in the event that he tells her too, or "something happens" to him. Afterwards we see her alone. She considers opening, but thinks better of it and slips it into her desk. At this point we assume that it's either some evidence to clear his name, or something personal meant for her, maybe both. We don't know. Before I tell you why this is annoying, read the following warning.

BEWARE, PLOT SPOILER AHEAD!

Well, something does happen. He gets killed. This is actually one of the "something new" things. He is our hero and he is killed abruptly and without and kind of warning. He gets no slow death and no last words. He is shot unceremoniously in the face and is dead instantly. Brutal, but I liked that it caught me off guard.

Anyway, his woman and the sealed envelope are never addressed. We see her sad at his funeral, and then nothing more. WHAT?! My issue with this is not so much that a large question is left unresolved. A lot of times I like it when a movie leaves something unanswered, because with a hollywood flick that is generally "something new." Plus it is usually great food for thought and imagination. But this is different. This is putting a scene in to a film that seems really important, but it turns out it is useless to the story. It has no purpose what-so-ever. It doesn't give us a turning point for the end, and it does not give us any new insight into any of the characters. It should have been on the deleted scenes portion of the disc. Period.

There are moments worth watching. Particularly Jack Nicholson. There are several moments where you have to assume that he was improving and Scorsese kept it in. Damon and DiCaprio are good, but nothing special, but Nicholson is in rare form.

2.5 out of 5 Poops

COMMENTS:

Since it's late and I'm tired, I'd just like to submit that I think the progressive from of "improv" should be "improvving" to distinguish it from the progressive form of "improve"--"improving." The double consonant also encourages the short vowel sound. Aesthetically, it adds a rare double v to a germanic language mysteriously void of them.
I only point it out because of my tiredness. I reread that sentence 5 or 6 times before I finally clued in.
Crohn 03.04.07 - 4:36 am

Totally agree with you...the end sucked...and to think we watched all the deleted scenes hoping there would be something there to explain the damn envelope...but no...over all though a good night after we figured out their damn sound system.
Kim 03.04.07 - 11:42 am

Have you seen "The Lives of Others" or "Days of Glory"?
ed 03.04.07 - 1:56 pm

I agree with Josh. Someone should make a wikipedia entry. Maybe it'll catch on.
Vega 03.05.07 - 3:04 pm

Boo on you, it was a fabulous movie. And I think the envelope had something to do with the fact that Markie Mark found out who the traitor was...just my thoughts.
Lenka 03.06.07 - 7:09 pm

1) I think Lenka's on the right track.
2) I saw both movies that Ed suggested with Ed, and loved them both, but especially The Lives of Others, which is exceptional.
3) I liked The Departed. I tend to like Scorse--however you spell his name--films. They're impactful and he seems to get good performances from his actors. I did feel that the performances in The Departed were strong and I was genuinely tense during the goings-on in the film. But yeah, there's not anything exceptionally new here, like you say.
I think he got the Oscar in the same way refs sometimes make bad calls to make up for worse calls they made earlier. He probably should have won something earlier but since he's old they're thinking, we better give him something. Or he paid people. Or threatened their lives. OR some of both, because he's probably a real-life mobster.
Hagler 03.07.07 - 6:17 am

Meh, when I saw previews for this movie all I could think to myself was "Oh great, Martin Scorsese has made yet another movie about cops and mobsters." So I never bothered to watch it.
I will concur about your feelings regarding having grown up completely media absorbed. I've seen so many movies that I really just can't care anymore about what I see on a screen.
therealdavid 03.08.07 - 1:08 am

Man, what's with the no updates, did you die?
therealdavid 03.22.07 - 11:43 pm