De-Parted

I saw "The Departed" earlier this evening. I was surprised I could still find it at the theatre, but with it being Oscar-nominated and all, I guess it's still around.

I must say that I was fairly disappointed. I was unusually bored during the first 30 minutes and actually contemplated taking a nap while my husband continued to watch. About that time, it started to pick up and seemed to get better as it went along, but the initial realization of pure boredom overshadowed my thoughts about the rest of the film. It's been a long time since I actually thought about sleeping through a flick. That says something right there.

While Jack Nicholson is always good, I found Matt Damon to be...well...Matt Damon. He always plays Matt Damon, no matter what role he's in. I see no depth of character in this actor, no matter the role. Big yawn. And his teeth are always way too white and straight for some of the characters we are supposed to believe he is. Not buying it.

The presence of Alec Baldwin in a smaller role was actually a distraction. I like watching Alec Baldwin....can't stand his politics but he's learned to put a lid on it publicly since it was killing his career..... Anyway, he's just so darned dry and funny that to put him in any role that requires seriousness is just distracting. Every time he came on screen, I chuckled, even when I wasn't supposed to. And it wasn't just me....other people in the theatre laughed, too. Maybe he was intended as some form of comic relief, but I found that to be a distraction to what was going on in the film otherwise.

For the first time I saw promise in DiCaprio is an actor. He nailed this one. Previously, he was just Leo playing another mediocre part. But he seemed to morph into this role a bit, something Damon can't figure out how to do.

Another surprising distraction was the soundtrack. At times, it was awesome. 'Gimme Shelter' by the Stones is one of the greatest rock and roll songs ever, and it can really set a mood in a movie scene. It started to here, and just about the time the music seduced me into the scene, they stopped it. Cold. And I was distracted by the awareness that the music was suddenly gone. It was very odd the way that happened 4 or 5 times during the film. And some of the music seemed forced, unlike the tunes used in another gangster film, "Goodfellas" (awesome).

Finally, the worst part of it was the it felt like the movie just ended because it hit a time threshold or something. It was over, and there were still several story lines left dangling. We never found out what was in the envelope, who the baby belonged to, etc. The flick just stopped. I was disappointed in that.

For a Scorsese film, it just didn't seem to cut it. I saw "Casino Royale" in the same theatre and couldn't help but think about how much more totally entertained I was during that film vs. this one. And which one got an Oscar nomination? Go figure.