The Departed
I know that this film is long gone out of the theatres, and has already won all types of awards, but I just got around to seeing it and thought that I should put in my two cents.
I had heard all sorts of wonderful things about this movie. From the stellar cast, to the great directing, and the great story (which was apparently very different from the Chinese film). Let's look at each one by one.
The Cast
Jack is good as always, and I do like Matt Damon (God knows why), and even Leo isn't too bad here. Sure the accents are sometimes a little overdone (or non-existent), but I can over look that. That falls more into the second category. There are even some good supporting roles by Marky-Mark and Martin Sheen, plus the entire Irish Mafia bunch seemed perfect. But God help me, Alec Baldwin... That was one of the worst performances I've seen. I don't know how he became so popular. This man cannot act his way out of a paper bag. But fear not Alec fans, for he won't suffocate in that bag, for I highly doubt he could act his way into one either. I was trying to come up with good things he's done and was only able to come up with the Narrator in Royal Tenenbaums (not a real acting role) and Bob in State and Main (but playing a bad actor isn't really acting either. That's like Courtney Love as a coke whore or Eminem as a white rapper from a trailer park). Please people, stop casting him! He almost singlehandedly killed the film.
Directing
Eh. Not terrible directing. But you could have gotten some better work out of some of your actors. And how hard is it to direct a movie that has already been made four years earlier? I'll call this one a wash.
Story
This is the same exact story as Infernal Affairs. I repeat. This is the same exact story Infernal Affairs. Oh, there is the twist that both Damon and Leo are sleeping with the same woman (nothing big there), and there is the "twist" or adding Marky-Mark to the cast and putting in the little extra to the ending. However, all this addition does is make the ending make no sense at all. I could go indepth with my explanation here, but I'll leave it be. If you really want to hear it message me or email me and I'll freely share it with you. In any case, the part of this movie that makes any sense at all is the same exact story as Infernal Affairs (just set in the US instead of China).
RATING: This wasn't a terrible movie, but the Best Picture of the year should not be a remake, especially not a remake of a movie that is only 4 years old! See it if you want, but I strongly urge you to rent Infernal Affairs instead. However, avoid Infernal Affairs II and III from what I've heard.