The Departed (2006)

USA/Hong Kong
directed by: Martin Scorsese
written by: William Monahan + Felix Chong and Alan Siu Fai Mak (original screenplay)
starring: Leonardo DiCaprio, Matt Damon, Mark Wahlberg, Vera Farmiga, Martin Sheen
commented on 29th July, 2018

This is a film from the 20th century, both in its themes and its execution. (And since it was not made in the 20th century, it's a bad thing.)

For some reason I instantly started hating this film straight after its release and for some reason I then went on watching it at least once a year to figure out why I hate it so much and what it is I am missing that makes the critics go wild about it (apart from the fact that the Academy thought they had Scorsese waiting long enough for some of them golden statues of glory and the film in question wasn't particularly important).

During this year's annual rewatching "the faithful departed" caught me in a benevolent mood and I finally got to appreciate the adorable heart-attack-inducing cat-and-mouse game presented by gentlemen Leonardo and Matt. (Although the softest spot in my heart was occupied by Marky Mark, surprisingly.) And I also finally uderstood what irritated me so much about it before, and it's the Jack Nicholson part, of course.

Nicholson is said to have described his character as "an incarnation of pure evil" but he really must be going bonkers if he believes that is what he achieved. Not only does his primitive mafioso get way more leeway that the character actually needs in terms of the story, but more importantly he feels like a one-dimentional caricature from a different genre and certainly not the evilest of evils. Compared with the absolute determination of his colleagues he comes off as laughable, and not in a good way. And in that regard I think the prologue was also not needed at all since it has very little to do with the film or its point.

And now that I've put names to those things that bugged me for years I feel liberated and hope to never see this film again. The end. (But I do want to watch the Hongkongese original, because I need to see Andy Lau and Tony Leung hatefully glancing at each other.)

-"Maybe. Maybe not. Maybe fuck yourself."