| Overall Grade: |
B+ |
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| Story: |
B+ |
|
|
| Acting: |
A- |
|
|
| Direction: |
B |
|
|
| Visuals: |
A- |
|
|
The Departed is good, but lacking key elements
by FrankC (movies profile)
Jun 13, 2008
205
of
249 people found this review helpful
After watching The Departed as well as the original Hong Kong movie Infernal Affairs, I wanted to share some thoughts on The Departed in relation to the original.
- Great acting and visuals.
- Comedic moments and a few storyline alterations which changed the overall feel of the movie.
- Lack of character development and the philosophical aspect in comparison to Infernal Affairs. In the original, you actually feel/understand what the two main characters are going through. In The Departed, I only felt this way for Leonardo DiCaprio's character, while Matt Damon's character invoked no feelings other than annoyance.
- Less tension and suspense compared to Infernal Affairs (more Hollywood in-your-face feel in The Departed).
- Missed the whole redemption aspect of the original story in regards to the character Colin Sullivan (portrayed by Matt Damon, Andy Lau's character in the original).
- Poor portrayal of Asians using an actor with a bad accent and the insults by Jack Nicholson's character.
- Some scenes did not flow well into the storyline, such as the scene between the gangster boss Frank Costello (Jack Nicholson) and Colin Sullivan (Matt Damon) where they talk about Colin being a son and the like. In Infernal Affairs, this scene made much more sense, also due to the redemption aspect mentioned above.
- More blood/violence/sex/comedy than the original.
Don't listen to those who gave A+'s to every element of this movie. If looked at as a stand-alone film The Departed is a good movie, but in comparison to Infernal Affairs, it lacks certain key elements of the original: character development, redemption, and the suspense and tension. These are replaced with blunt Hollywood style visuals and comedic moments (though I must say I loved Mark Wahlberg's character, who wasn't present in Infernal Affairs). Each film shines in their own way, though I prefer Infernal Affairs over The Departed since I felt a deeper bond with the characters. |
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