Dean(ish)

With its recent release on DVD, and even more so after receiving four Oscar awards, I was really looking forward to seeing The Departed. I didn’t have any expectations for the film save that it would promise to deliver a great story, great acting, and leave me feeling strongly - whether that be happy, sad, etc, that would be up to the film. While it certainly featured great acting, I felt the story was lacking, which ultimately lead me to only a slight feeling of confusion as to why this movie was praised so heavily.

DiCaprio, Sheen, and Wahlberg - great cast

As I said, the acting was definitely the highlight of The Departed. The cast alone - including Leonardo DiCaprio, Matt Damon, Mark Wahlberg, Jack Nicholson, Alec Baldwin, and Martin Sheen to name but a few - is impressive in its own right, but the performances given by each of the cast made their character believable. I felt that Leonardo DiCaprio’s and Mark Wahlberg’s performances were especially well done.

Jack and Leo talk business

I don’t feel like the story really picked up until near the end of the movie. Maybe it was because I was tired when I saw the movie, but I just felt as though the plot was lacking a certain something to make it truly special. I’d like to have seen more between Leonardo’s character and his psychiatrist, as well as more back story into Leonardo’s character as a child. Matt Damon’s character was developed well enough, but DiCaprio’s was more interesting yet his back story seemed lacking.

Scorsese and Damon trade “your mom” jokes

Perhaps this was seen by the Academy as Martin Scorsese’s final hurrah - perhaps the Academy had the mindset that if Scorsese doesn’t make another great movie, after the forty-some movies he’s never won an Oscar for, then at least he made a movie with a solid cast that we can use as a vessel to that end. I’m not trying to sound mean or put the man down - I just don’t think The Departed was all that it was cracked up to be. Solid acting with a bit to be desired in the story, I’d recommend this to die-hard fans of the actors, or of Scorsese, or of dramatic crime movies in general; otherwise, I wouldn’t advise to go out of your way to see it.

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