Review of The Departed (2006) by Terenceh. — 22 May 2008

While the original Hong Kong version was plausible due to their cultural standards, Scorsese's version was way below imaginable standards. While the HK verison had some plot devices, there was a lot implausible gaps and forced concepts that didn't work out in the American version.

Like a boss sitting in the front of a car so the mole can communicate in the back. A gang boss will never sit in the front of a car! Using cell-phones to bring down a gang is just lame and un-inspiring! Colin Sullivan, who claimed to not be able to use the password on his computer all of a sudden uses it to delete Costigans profile on his very own computer seconds later.

The list goes on and gets very tiresome to mention. Didn't anyone review these forced issues and plotholes before making the film? That's right, they just tried to copy IA, forgetting about the lost in translation consequences.

Its a shame that America never bothered to release the IA trilogy instead in theaters. The original stories encompassed balanced story-telling, better suspense and emotional content, slick cat-and mouse chase, psychological dept, and well-developed and intriguing characters.

We also get to see how being in the police and triads truly bring grief in their lives. The Departed was done sloppy in comparison only saved by typical Scorsese violence and swearing. The characters in Departed were lame and boring.

Billy Costigan (Leo Dicpario) is the only character probably that got his role right. Matt Damon, a good actor, had a very dull and typical bad guy character in comparison to Andy Lau's tormented role in IA.

Martin Sheen was a poor father figure and a watse of time. and of course, there are other lame, pointless filler characters that aren't worth mentioning. Sadly, Scorsese will get praises from the audience no matter how he makes his films.

Had Scorsese's name not been on the director's list, this film would had got a worser rating. All in all, it was IA that was more realistic. People say Departed is, but tell yourself this, not one person swears that much, nor do you see bloodshed like that in reality.