The Departed (Martin Scorsese, 2006)

[kieslowski_67]

Count me as one of those that really appreciate "the Aviator". "Gangs of New York" was a huge mess but it was still better than 95% of the trash coming out of Hollywood on a yearly basis.

I really adore "the age of innocence", a film that I visit at least once every two years. I do agree his "raging bull" and "taxi driver" are arguably better. Don't have too much feeling on "Casino" since it is largely a repeat of what he did with "goodfellas".

[Antoine Doinel]

Perhaps this is just wishful thinking, but Mark Wahlberg's character's name is Dignam. Perhpas this is a reference/homage to Dignan in Bottle Rocket (one of Scorsese's favorite movies of the '90s)?

Some images:

Wahlberg and Damon

Nicholson and DiCaprio

Wahlberg and Nicholson

[Matt]

Those are the most uninspiring stills, ever. Ah, a movie in which Mark Wahlberg and Jack Nicholson (wearing a lavender sportscoat) squint at something in the distance? I'm so there!

[che-etienne]

Doesn't that also completely give away where Dignam's (Mark Wahlberg's) loyalties lie in the film...

maybe this was already suggested in the trailer (note the shot where he's wearing civilian clothing - I believe it's a blue jump suit - and shooting someone from above a lot like the shot where Joe Pesci ices Samuel L. Jackson in Goodfellas except from a more direct angle, kind of a mix I guess between that and the Great Train Robbery homage from the end od said film), and maybe this has been spoiled elsewhere in some preview screening review, but it still bothers me they'd let this out so clearly...

[Antoine Doinel]

I like the medium shot of Nicholson and DiCaprio at the table. Moreover, I'm encouraged by the interesting choice of artwork on the walls which I hope is just the beginning of the Nicholson's reportedly perverted dildo-strap-on-wearing character.

[Via_Chicago]

Doesn't that also completely give away where Dignam's (Mark Wahlberg's) loyalties lie in the film...

I'm sure the studio assumes the target audience have all seen Internal Affairs already.

I personally think the marketing job on this film has been terrible. While I'm still excited to see the film, the trailer did nothing for me, and the other publicity work has been uninspiring and uninteresting to say the very least.

[Barmy]

In the trailer, Nicholson looks like shite and seems barely able to speak.

Leon de C is the most overrated actor ever (oh wait, no one but Marty seems to even "rate" him).

This dude has been on a downward spiral since he started making movies. And now he is remaking a Hong Kong policier (a genre that has been tired and played out for ages). Yawn.

[Joe Buck]

I just wanted to say that I enjoyed The Aviator in all its revisionist, glossy, Oscar pandering glory. A tad overlong, but I found it enjoyable. The same goes with Gangs, but that picture is just so damn long I feel like I need to clear my schedule for a whole day to watch it. I'd really like to see him streamline and make a tight, solid picture like he used to. I despised Leo DiCapprio after getting hit over the head by all the Titanic hype, but he has gained my respect with his good work with Scorcese. He does come off ass too much of a pretty boy to be taken seriously at times, though. He's no Deniro. You wouldn't believe him kicking the door down and punching Cathy Moriarty in the face. I'm looking forward to the new film and I hope for the best. But Marty has been hit or miss for a long time now…..maybe he always was…

[Antoine Doinel]

I personally think the marketing job on this film has been terrible. While I'm still excited to see the film, the trailer did nothing for me, and the other publicity work has been uninspiring and uninteresting to say the very least.

If you think this trailer was bad, go back and pop in the DVD for Goodfellas and watch the trailer the studio created for that. Brutally awful. Trailers and Scorsese have never gotten along.

I think the studio is trying to reach a wider audience than what Scorsese's last two flicks aimed for. It's not unlike the terrible trailer for Miami Vice, complete with that awful Linkin Park song.

[che-etienne]

Doesn't that also completely give away where Dignam's (Mark Wahlberg's) loyalties lie in the film...

I'm sure the studio assumes the target audience have all seen Internal Affairs already.

I personally think the marketing job on this film has been terrible. While I'm still excited to see the film, the trailer did nothing for me, and the other publicity work has been uninspiring and uninteresting to say the very least.

On the contrary, no big studio assumes that its movie-going public would have already seen a foreign film, albeit a less-obscure one... and they don't even reinforce it this time by giving the original a reference title card in the trailer. You think they assumed people had seen "Il Mare" when they were marketing "The Lake House"?

Also, Wahlberg's character Dignam by the looks of the trailer clearly knows that Dicaprio is undercover, so for him to be of questionable loyalty seems like a major plot twist of "The Departed", because it seems odd that he wouldn't just sabotage the undercover plant from the get-go. I believe his character is loosely based off of dirty cop who reveals himself at the last moment in "Infernal Affairs" and kills Tony Leung, but it appears they've made him both more central to the plot and a little more ambiguous in this one. I'm interested to see, but I'm annoyed that they would release a still like that which pretty much kills some of the mystery, though luckily not all.

[zedz]

I'm sure the studio assumes the target audience have all seen Internal Affairs already.

I think you might need to resit Emoticon Sarcasm 101.

[Andre Jurieu]

The thing I don't understand about the reception or perception of The Departed is that Infernal Affairs wasn't really a masterpiece, yet everyone is now treating it as some sort of sacred text simply because it's a foreign film which Hollywood is remaking. If anything, Infernal Affairs succeeded due to a fascinating concept for its plot, but was by no means flawlessly executed. The strangest aspect of this perception is that everyone seems to think so much substance will get lost in translation. In fact, Infernal Affair's style felt rather Western, or at least like it was hoping to be remade by Hollywood.

The one part of the trailer that I was slightly disappointed in was that they stuck in Gimmie Shelter almost immediately. It's difficult not to instantly think of Goodfellas and the overhead shot of all that drug paraphernalia once the Stones kick in. I guess that's the point though.

[che-etienne]

am I the only one who thinks it's a little ambiguous? okay, well my bad then.. sorry...

[Fletch F. Fletch]

Nicholson on his role in Scorsese' film.

[Matt]

Nicholson on his role in Scorsese' film.

His side of the story doesn't contradict any of the rumors emanating from on-set; he sounds like he was a real handful.

[backstreetsbackalright]

Boy, I'm sure glad somebody's finally getting around to delving into the dismally ignored sex lives of the mafia.

[Christmas Cyclops]

Nicholson's character sounds like Frank Booth, out of the shadows and into the city (tagline for spinoff).

[Fletch F. Fletch]

Or Max Cady in Scorsese's Cape Fear remake...

[John Cope]

An early look by Rene Rodriguez in the Miami Herald.

Hopefully his enthusiasm is not just a lot of breathless hyperbole.

[Antoine Doinel]

A crapload of pics here.

[kevyip1]

The thing I don't understand about the reception or perception of The Departed is that Infernal Affairs wasn't really a masterpiece, yet everyone is now treating it as some sort of sacred text simply because it's a foreign film which Hollywood is remaking.

The quality of the original film is irrelevant. The overall resentment seems to pertain to the recent wave of Hollywood remakes of Asian hit films, regardless of the quality of the original films. Hence, the complainers would be just as indignant towards a remake of some chop-socky Hong Kong kungfu film as they would be towards a remake of a masterpiece like "My Sassy Girl".

I look forward to seeing "The Departed", and am curious what new approaches Scorsese will use to differentiate it from the original film.

But one aspect is crucial, and Marty will need to nail it. Early in "Infernal Affair", there is an extraordinarily edited sequence of the police trying to bust a drug trade that ends up with an extraordinarily suspenseful moment when all four principals (the police chief, the undercover cop, the crime boss, and his mole disguised as the police) are all in the same room staring at one another, realizing they've been infiltrated and the infiltrators are probably in the room. This is the showpiece of the film and Marty has got to deliver something as good as this. But how much of an action director is he? (I can envision Andrew Davis doing it.) This sequence has many crosscuttings among several locales.

[Andre Jurieu]

Hence, the complainers would be just as indignant towards a remake of some chop-socky Hong Kong kungfu film as they would be towards a remake of a masterpiece like "My Sassy Girl".

Somehow I doubt that, especially considering that not too many people raised a stink over the remake of Shall We Dance, and even if a stink was raised, it was nowhere near as intense as the fury over Infernal Affairs. If it is merely just an offense over the principle of the matter, it doesn't appear to be applied equally.

[Antoine Doinel]

Dave Poland weighs in with his comparisons/observations between The Departed and Infernal Affairs (you can skim over the tired Oscar predictions).

[kevyip1]

Somehow I doubt that, especially considering that not too many people raised a stink over the remake of Shall We Dance, and even if a stink was raised, it was nowhere near as intense as the fury over Infernal Affairs. If it is merely just an offense over the principle of the matter, it doesn't appear to be applied equally.

Maybe it depends on the genre, and what kind of fanbase it has. "Infernal Affairs", being a HK police action drama, belongs to a genre that has a huge following due to the works of John Woo and the likes. And yes, I believe they would champion a "bad" film just because it is part of the same genre, as much as a good one.

[Antoine Doinel]

Infernal Affairs has nothing to do with John Woo styled films or chop-socky (as people who have actually seen the film would know). What it is, is a very above average police procedural with a clever twist on an old formula. What it isn't, is a masterpiece that can't be touched or remade. From the account above, Scorses and Monahan have certainly added their own unique touch and transplanted the original story into new territory.