2006--The Departed, Martin Scorsese

 

2006--The Departed, Martin Scorsese

Nominated: Babel, Letters from Iwo Jima, Little Miss Sunshine, The Queen,

Should have won: The Last King of Scotland

Be sure to see: Feast, The Hills Have Eyes, Monster House, Stranger than Fiction,We Are Marshall

“I don't want to be a product of my environment; I want my environment to be a product of me.”--Frank Costello

     A remake of a 2002 Chinese movie called Internal Affairs, The Departed is only the second remake to win best picture joining 1959's Ben-Hur, a remake of a 1926 film. I suppose you could say Titanic too. It wasn't really a remake but there have been other tellings of the fated ship. It also holds the record for the most uses of the word “fuck” in a movie that won the Oscar, uttering it 237 times. Many people think Goodfellas should have beaten Dances With Wolves (I'm not one of them), and if it had, it would hold the record spurting it a whopping 296 times. Beyond that trivia, The Departed is also a decent cop thriller.

    Billy Costigan goes undercover as a mole and since his family has mob ties, he should fit right in. Meanwhile, Colin Sullivan works as a mole for the local crime boss, Frank (not Lou) Costello. It is hard to believe The Departed is the first Martin Scorsese movie to win best picture; many consider him to be the best living director. In a previous Oscar ceremony when Three 6 Mafia won the Academy Award for best song, host Jon Stewart said one of the funniest off the cuff lines in the Oscar show's history: “For those of you keeping score at home, Three 6 Mafia one Oscar, Martin Scorsese zero.” There have certainly been movies from Scorsese I enjoyed more than The Departed, but I still liked it a lot. It is difficult to say if I agree with the win. I seem to enjoy Little Miss Sunshine the most out of the nominees though The Last King of Scotland is my pick. But perhaps in the grand scheme of things, the award probably went to the correct film. It is good but I think it just comes down to the fact that I don't enjoy gun movies unless it is military, and this one sure had some gunfire.

     As good as the movie is, a few things distracted me. The annoying Boston accents were unbearably grating on the ears. But the movie is set there so that was necessary, and I can say they were not as annoying as the accents in Mystic River, at least. And two aspect of the the cell phones bugged me. First how many times a phone is used. Someone should play a drinking game with how many times a phone is answered or dialed. Also, the Foley artist had fun with the phones. I'm assuming that wasn't the actual sound of the phones closing every time someone hung up. It seemed to me it was made certain the audience was intended to hear every phone close, like in the booth they were saying “This guy is closing his phone, lets make a precise slicing and clicking noise, and make it louder than any real phone could ever be slid closed.” Eh, maybe it is just something that caught my ear, not yours.

     I also got a little distracted because of the abundance of well known actors in it. Odd thing to say about a stellar cast but at times when another recognizable person popped up I could have made yet another drinking game. Sometimes a loaded cast is good, but not when it diverts you from the action.

     I liked The Departed though the review doesn't make it seem as such. Police and mob movies just aren't my thing. It does have one of the most abruptly surprising deaths I've ever seen; I certainly didn't see it coming. It just doesn't seem like the Scorsese movie that should finally win an Oscar when looking at his past achievements. It is good I just don't find it to be one of Scorsese's finest hours. But I'm not a fan of the genre; maybe someone who is can shed some insight on if this really is a top notch crime thriller.