Review of The Departed (2006) by Richard D — 09 May 2016
I like this film, but I certainly don't love it. My biggest problem with it is that I just don't like Nicholson in this one. It's not that I think he gives a particularly bad performance. I just think he's the entirely wrong person to be playing this part.
(Is there a right person to be playing an apparently Irish gangster named "Frank Costello"? Where the hell does that name come from?) He really seems to be walking around in a different film from the rest of the cast.
His giant presence seems to pull the focus of the film away from where it should be sitting with Damon and DiCaprio. I have a few other small issues. Scorsese's usually infallible feel for music seems to have let him down here since he includes both the intolerably awful Dropkick Murphys and a terrible version of "Confortably Numb" by Roger Waters with Van Morrison's band (???).
I do like Vera Farmiga quite a lot here, but I'm ultimately unclear why her character is in the film.
This review of The Departed (2006) was written by Richard D on 09 May 2016.
The Departed has generally received very positive reviews.
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