I have a question:

Incredible movie... best of the year so far. Great acting all around, tons of great dialogue and was vintage Scorsese...easily his best movie in years...love him working in this genre. Lots of twists and turns, great ending and just an all around great time at the movies.

MATT

Just saw it, it was pretty good, I wouldn't say it's Scorsese's best though. Not as good as the better-paced and more thrilling Infernal Affairs.

One note about the ending

Saw it, and loved it. I am one of the 3,000 nuts that bought the Limited Edition 8 (or 9, can't remembeR) DVD version of the Infernal Affairs trilogy from overseas., so I had high hopes going in.

This is how I saw the ending:

Since my copy of IA is packed away in a moving box, can someone recap (with spoiler tags, obviously) the ending(s)? I believe there were two filmed. I want to say Scorsese threw in a couple of extra red herrings, but my memory of IA isn't so fresh.

I just got back and thought this was a great movie. One of the best I've seen in awhile.

I agree with movieking's interpretation of the ending.

I really loved IA and was suprised I liked this so much. The only thing that really bugged me was the very last scene:



If it wasn't for that last scene I would have loved it.

Also anyone else get a third man vibe from the last scene?

No one is going to mention the brutal violence in this one? I haven't seen Infernal Affairs but even I was cringing quite a bit from the violence in this one. It's probably one of the most violent films I have ever seen. It seemed Scorsese was out to send a message with this one, take your only Oscar attempt film dramas outta here. This is Scorsese raw and brutal. Jack was as expected completely scene chewing and gone mad.

While it was very violent and the audience I viewed it with mostly agreed, I didn't think it was more violent then some of his earlier work, like Casino.

One of, if not the best film i've seen all year.

Loved it... fuckin loved it. Everything from the way Marty weaves his camera, Leo and Damon knockin boots with Jack, big Alec Baldwin, the music, and Marky Mark being a brilliant hardass. It all far surpassed my expectations. Although I was a little confused at the beginning (the good guys are bad, the bad guys are good... I almost forgot who I myself was rooting for), there's nothing to point to but great directing as everything was piecing together while the ride was still goin.

One quick question...

I liked Infernal Affairs but wasn't floored by it. The Departed blew me away. Amazing film and easily my favorite Scorsese film since Bringing out the Dead. Really took the themes of the original, fleshed them out, and brought everything down to earth giving it genuine moral weight. Just a great film all around, I can't wait to see it again.

Saw it at a packed theater in Culver City and the audience seemed to love it too. Lots of collective gasps, shocked silence, and laughter. Exiting the theater everyone seemed very pleased.

Don't remember the last time I saw a movie that seemed to be so universally enjoyed by an audience. (Even by some people who seemed overly affected by some of the violence). Just so great to see Scorsese back to naturally clicking with the material like he has in all of his best.

I caught a matinee today with mostly older people in the audience. When they brought out that chocolate cake tower durring Damon's date, people in the audience were oooohhhing and aaawwwwing. That made me laugh.

The "original" ending of IA = Andy Lau/Ming (Damon/Sullivan) got away with everything

The "alternate" ending of IA = Ming got arrested when he's getting outta elevator

http://www.lovehkfilm.com/reviews/infernal_affairs.htm

So I still wish that Brad Pitt could play a role but he appears to be a producer instead. Oh well.

Actually it would be fun to hear him swearing like a sailor. 150 minutes of F-bombs, buddy.

Somehow they simply replace Morse Code with SMS. That worked so well but now it is not there. Besides, try to send a text message to a specific number when you have to hide your phone in your pocket. That was way cool.

Is it a plot hole that Costigan's phone should be vibrating in the first place but all of a sudden it's ringing so that Sullivan could actually hear it? Both of them should be text messages and I just wonder why it would be different.

That John Lennon / U.S. President shit-testing might be a bit too funny. It certainly takes someone with 140 IQ to give an answer like that.

Is Vera Farmiga somewhat irrelevant? The chemistry is not really there IMHO and I am still trying to figure out what's the deal with her picture.

The ending is just like a rush and a half:
1st guy is down - what?
2nd one is down, too - what what?
3rd one is down, again - what what what?

With all due respect we are not THAT stupid and Costigan's classmate should not look so stupid as well. Then the very last scene is like ER -The Movie- or something. Do you guys think that Marky-Mark could have weared his "costume" for an operation room cameo?

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2006/...n2054845.shtml
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2006/...n2065184.shtml

Hey, Doctor Dignam. How're you doing?

Excellent, Excellent movie....By far the best film of the year in my book.

Marty is back. This is his best film since Goodfellas.

Is the hd-dvd available for preorder yet???

well for started there is alot more humour in The Departed than in Infernal Affairs. I also thought since I was wowed by Infernal Affairs the effect was lost for the American remake.

Haven't seen "The Departed" yet but I'm certainly interested in doing so (and "yes" I'm a big fan of the original "Infernal Affairs" trilogy). One thing I'm not too pleased about......some of the more knowledgeable reviewers have pointed out that the film also incorporates elements from parts 2 and 3 of "Infernal Affairs". Currently on the homepage of KFCCinema.com (scroll down a bit on that site), Andy Lau (one star of "Infernal Affairs") also is mentioned as confirming that "The Departed" has incorporated elements of the last two films in the original trilogy. My concern is that he also mentions that the film makers did not pay for the rights to the last two films (they only bought rights to the first one). If that's true (and there isn't any more to the deal that I'm not aware of), then that is very weak (and very Bollywood) on the part of those involved on the U.S. side of things. I realize film makers borrow from each other all the time - and that Asian film makers often "borrow" from Hollywood - but given the high-profile players involved in the U.S. version, I'd be disappointed if they did resort to what is essentially theft.

While he definitely praises "Infernal Affairs", film reviewer James Berardinelli (his review is linked earlier in this discussion) does label it as a B-grade entry in comparison to the "American epic tragedy" that is "The Departed". I'm curious if he has seen the latter two films in the "Infernal Affairs" trilogy. Given that "The Departed" has a much longer runtime than the original "Infernal Affairs" and that it apparently incorporates elements from parts 2 and 3, I'm a little disappointed to see the original film somewhat slighted in the sense that "The Departed" is being given praise as a great epic as compared to the original. In my opinion, so was the original trilogy. Maybe this is "apples to oranges", but those are some thoughts that came to mind.

Saw it last night by pure chance. We just showed up at a random time looking for a movie to see. My friend said we should go see 'The Department'... We bought the tickets and had to walk outside to see what it actually was.

It has a very good story, although at the end most people were laughing at the turn of events. I found it interesting that the movie, while it has less violent scenes than most action flicks you see these days, was still by far the most violent movie I have seen in years. It was much more realistic than most of the shit Hollywood producers are spewing at us these days in the hopes of getting ratings/awards.

My audience last night (Friday 10pm) was laughing at a lot of the more extreme violence as well.

Saw it last night, and like most, I totally dug it.

As a LONG-time Scorsese fan, it was interesting to see his distilation of style - what I mean is that it didn't have the usual tricks and stylistic flourishes that Scorsese usually employs, but it was still Scorsese through and through. Almost like he doesn't need to be flashy anymore, because he's perfected his technique so well. Instead of putting some "autour" stamp on it, he just made tight little genre-film like the ones he grew up on, and nailed it out of the park.

Though the use of Gimme Shelter is getting to be a bit much...

As far as the unanswered question:

I haven't seen the film yet, but I do think there's a difference between feeling brutal and being just plain sick. The fact that it was disturbing to you (without I suspect, every gory detail being shown) shows the talent of the filmmaker.

Showing brutal scenes as punctuation has more of an impact than letting the blood flow non stop.. imo. Take this wknds other new release Texas Chainsaw Massacre... two different presentations of violence.

I'm assuming there aren't any vice scenes in The Departed?

Just got back from seeing this and was completely floored. Up there with Scorsese's finest work, IMO. Fired on all cylinders and the cast was great (Wahlberg stands out). I have not yet seen Infernal Affairs so am unable to do a comparison.

About the ending...

I love how it's almost a unanimous trend to call them "Leo" and "Marky-mark" haha...

On subject though, saw it, loved it, but I disagree with some people saying it's open ended. I think its resolution wraps everything up nicely, and sensibly. Speculation as to what certain things meant seems like a stretch.

just got back from this a few minutes ago. loved it. thought it was great. liked every minute of it. jack's character was crazy and he made that much better. can't say any but great things about this movie.

i agree with other peoples thoughts on the end. <spoiler> that the enevlope had the information that wahlberg would need to put damon as the rat. once he got that info, he took out damon instead of taking him in to get arrested.</spoiler>

sorry spoiler tag didn't work and it won't let me edit for some reason...