15th anniversary of "The Departed" - October 6th

For those who have not seen the Hong Kong original Scorsese cribbed from: The character of the undercover cop in “Miu Gaan Diy” (Infernal Affairs) was played by Tony Leung Chiu Wai. DiCaprio was good in “The Departed” but he is no Tony L. and never will be. Scorsese fans still breathlessly rave about a particular unexpected plot twist related to Leo’s character (the “elevator scene”), but fans of this Asian thriller weren’t surprised. Marty lifted it whole from “Infernal Affairs”. It is the exact same shot as in the Hong Kong original. No one connected with “The Departed” can take any credit for it. There is not a single good idea or surprise or plot twist or, for that matter, creative that wasn’t taken from “Infernal Affairs”.

More and more often, I am ruining movies for myself by noticing when characters delivering dialog are shown isolated with cuts back and forth between the two. This is just evidence to me that they were shot separately and were not acting off each other. “Capote” is composed almost entirely of isolated actors. Best Picture winner “The Departed” contains some of the funniest and most outrageous examples. The long dialog scene between Leo and Vera Farmiga in her office kept me on the edge of my seat watching for any evidence at all that the two actors ever saw each other in person. When she writes a prescription for Billy and hands it over the desk, there is a cut to DiCaprio who takes it from a disembodied hand sticking out from the left side of the screen. I laughed out loud. This is extremely sloppy directing.

The ending – the very last line and shot of “Infernal Affairs – is what lifts this Asian cop film out of just the Very Good into Excellent Keeper territory. This is one thing Scorsese changed. Scorsese delivers up the most ridiculous, risible final fade-out shot in any major motion picture in decades. “The Departed” is lazy, sloppy, uninspired filmmaking from start to fade.

“The Departed" is not just a “remake.” It is practically a cut ‘n paste.