Opening Statement/The Departed

So . . . been a long time since I played this game. December 20th, 2005 officially. And at least another year before that since I stopped doing this in any real sense. Any way, out sick today, let's give this another go. New rule - every post is at its heart a movie review - I may ramble a bit around before and after, but every post is a movie review. So first on the list, Marty Scorsese's only Oscar winner, The Departed.
Personal history - I saw Infernal Affairs back in . . . damn, when did I see that? Let's see, I was in A-Squared at the time, so . . . late '04/early '05? I was in the middle of a man-crush on Andy Lau (still active, just dormant at the moment) at the time, and it also had Tony Leung (the short one), so I was pretty excited. Stephanie Zacharek, who is a whole series of posts in and of herself, wrote a great review of it. Rented it, watched it two or three times, loved it. When I heard that there was going to be an American remake, I was depressed. When I heard it was Marty, I got a little interested. I'd also started to come around on Leo - he almost single-handedly crippled Gangs of New York, but he'd gotten better since then. Anyway, I'm rambling - long story short, I went and saw The Departed as soon as it came out. I walked out, I said it was great. Recommended it to all my friends, said it was one of the best re-makes out there, etc etc etc.
Anyway . . . it suffers on re-viewing. Watching Jack Nicholson make rat faces and wave his plastic dick around . . . that hurts some. It was funny on the first viewing, but I get the feeling each successive viewing, Jack-O's gonna get just a little bit more annoying (which hurts, because I like seeing more of his character, having the movie be broader than just the central two).
The themes bugged me a little bit - they kept a lot of the strong themes from I.A. - identity, trust, lying, not being sure who you really are - the no-brainer stuff the movie is built around. But the additional themes - fatherhood, sexual strength - weak additions, in my opinion. The contrast between Leo (impregnates Matt's girlfriend)/Marty Sheen (son at ND, the Holy of Holies for the fucking Mick race of which I am a member) and Matt(see note on Leo, also victim of "it happens to a lot of guys")/Jack("Is that what this is about? All those murders, all that fucking, and no sons?") . That stuff didn't move me at all - maybe because I don't have a ton of Daddy issues, I dunno.
Anyway, a LOT more sex in the american version, most of it to little or no point - surprise surprise. On to my next major quibble - Matt Damon's turn/the ending. Now I'm going to have to re-watch I.A. to check, but in my memory, there was a little more blurring - Tony Leung definitely got a taste for the work, definitely had a little more fun being a mobby than he should have. Andy Lau offed his boss because he loved being a cop and wanted to get out from under - there's a lot of that in Matt Damon, but he's made a lot less rounded - Matt Damon is much more about the money and the power. He shoots down Nicholson because he's afraid he'll give him up to the Feds - watch the D. again - the sequence goes like this:
01:51:54 - Damon and Nicholson argue over tactics, after Sheen's death. Still pretty clearly on the same side, even if they have been starting to squabble.
01:52:25 - Nicholson and his girlfriend have an exchange in which she implies that he's gay and he defensively over-reacts
01:52:49 - Leo and Vera (the all-american psych counselor) have a touching (and very heterosexual) "I can't see you anymore" moment
01:53:58 - Matt find's Sheen's phone (getting Sheen's blood on his hands - one of those subtle moments that doesn't try and brain you over the head with anything) and calls Leo. This actually leads to a great bid that I truly enjoy with the two of them on the phone afraid to speak, followed by the tense moments leading up to Leo calling back, and Matt trying to land him. Good cat and mouse.
01:57:00 - The money shot - Matt finds a photo in Sheen's files of Jack meeting with the FBI, along with notes to the effect that Jack is an informant.
01:57:27 - Long tangent with the "was Delahunt an undercover officer as well?" sub-plot. I don't know on this one - it was a mystery to me in I.A., it remains so in the re-make - I lean towards No both times.
01:58:40 - Cue the Dropkick Murphys, it's time for a bunch of people to die. At the start here, you still get the feeling Matt is not quite sure what to do about Jack-O.
01:59:15 - Jack screams at Matt. Music stops. Shot of Matt collecting his thoughts. Matt decides to fuck Jack. Re-cue music (I do really enjoy the use of music in this - great music, great music editing).
02:01:17 - One of the little moments that I love - Leo tries to warn Jack that he's been set up and is going down tonight; he can't say too much of course, but it just flares up in him suddenly - loyalty, a sense of fair play, who knows. "Do you always know why you do things?"
02:01:57 - Extended well-choreographed violence.
02:03:29 - Big final scene w/ Matt and Jack - "You were gonna sell me out" "who, me? never!" "bla bla bla" "bla bla bla" *exchange of shots with pistols as even more over-done symbols of sexuality than normal*

Okay, that went on a little longer than I thought. I may need to hire an editor if I keep doing this shit. Anyway, long story short, after I first saw le Departed, I was of the opinion that it was equally good as I.A., just different and that you couldn't really pick between the two. Now I'm of the opinion that Infernal Affairs is clearly the better movie - I still like the Departed, but it doesn't measure up anymore. Just to make sure, I'm going to go rent I.A. now and see if it holds up to my rosy memories of it. Part II of this post to follow.