Wednesday, November 22, 2006
Well, KFC. Seems like it's becoming a little bit too convenient.
The Departed. Thanks for the ticket David! First impressions eh. Good. Quality movie, can't really argue with that objectively. Powerful and intense film. I walked out of the theatre dodging people at every corner for fear getting a bullet in my head. I think that sums up the film pretty well.
In short: People get killed.
There were a few significant improvements on the original Infernal Affairs. Like the tightening of subplots. More backstory. A more compelling villain in Costello (Nicholson). However, I think it wasn't the remake I was hoping for. While the ending is slightly different (the specifics of 'who kills who'), it's not the one I was hoping for. Sure, the right people get 'knocked off', but still in a pretty convoluted way.
I don't think any filmmaker (including the directors of Infernal Affairs) would've chosen an ending out of carelessness - so I respect that. This is the ending Scorsese wanted, and so, The Departed is a movie about street justice, through and through.
But the screenplay needs a lot of work. Many flaws of the original are still in The Departed. Convolution here and there. Nice set-ups that are not paid off in a way that doesn't really add to the story. Elimination of the cool morse code 'gimmick' from the original. Jumps in logic. A pretty good subplot that sort of died near the end. Or died before it took off. But yeah, minor complaints that you'd only pick out if you've seen the original.
The style is a tad 'showy'. But go see the films, both of them. They're both good.
The Departed. Thanks for the ticket David! First impressions eh. Good. Quality movie, can't really argue with that objectively. Powerful and intense film. I walked out of the theatre dodging people at every corner for fear getting a bullet in my head. I think that sums up the film pretty well.
In short: People get killed.
There were a few significant improvements on the original Infernal Affairs. Like the tightening of subplots. More backstory. A more compelling villain in Costello (Nicholson). However, I think it wasn't the remake I was hoping for. While the ending is slightly different (the specifics of 'who kills who'), it's not the one I was hoping for. Sure, the right people get 'knocked off', but still in a pretty convoluted way.
I don't think any filmmaker (including the directors of Infernal Affairs) would've chosen an ending out of carelessness - so I respect that. This is the ending Scorsese wanted, and so, The Departed is a movie about street justice, through and through.
But the screenplay needs a lot of work. Many flaws of the original are still in The Departed. Convolution here and there. Nice set-ups that are not paid off in a way that doesn't really add to the story. Elimination of the cool morse code 'gimmick' from the original. Jumps in logic. A pretty good subplot that sort of died near the end. Or died before it took off. But yeah, minor complaints that you'd only pick out if you've seen the original.
The style is a tad 'showy'. But go see the films, both of them. They're both good.
