The Departed
Much is being made of Scorsese’s remake of Infernal Affairs, widely touted as a triumphant return to gangland film making and his best work since Goodfellas. On paper, it all adds up - Damon & Di Caprio as rat and mole, Nicholson in scenery-chewing form as the mob boss, and a veritable embarrassment of riches (Alec Baldwin, Martin Sheen, Mark Wahlberg & Ray Winstone) in the supporting roles. In practice too, there is very much here to like - Di Caprio is particularly good, putting in arguably his best performance since the basketball diaries; Jack plays Jack (yet again) which is, let’s face it, always watchable and Marky Mark of all people manages to steal pretty much every scene he’s in.
Fundamentally however, it just fails to live up to the original. Despite being in some places practically a shot for shot copy (especially in some of the better set pieces), it somehow manages to clock in at nearly an extra 50 minutes in length, making the second reel drag and the whole thing unnecessarily bloated. In the central performances, which are the bedrock of the original, Matt Damon is no Andy Lau, and as good as he is Di Caprio lacks the class and sheer presence of Tony Leung.
I’m not saying I didn’t enjoy it, because I did, but on leaving the cinema I just ended up wanting to watch Infernal Affairs again…