The Departed (HD-DVD/DVD Combo Format)
Picture:
B+/B- Sound: B+/B- Extras: C+ Film: B
Though he
has done many types of films and very successfully as only a master filmmaker
could, Martin Scorsese has become best known for his work in the Gangster
genre. From hints of that world in his
earliest works, to the most explicit renderings, he and Francis Coppola rewrote
the genre (along with Oliver Stone co-writing Michael Cimino’s Year Of The Dragon and Brian De Palma’s
Scarface, plus David Chase’s TV
classic The Sopranos) into how we
know it today. When I was recently asked
why there had been few to no Gangster films lately, I explained The Sopranos was cornering the market
on the genre with little else to offer, though I also knew Scorsese was making The Departed.
Like the
famed hit TV show, this remake of Infernal
Affairs is a sort of conclusion, long goodbye and quickly closing period of
the genre at its most realistic. Sure,
there are many other great Gangster films (especially from 1990) and there will
be more, but the stories as brutal as we now know them have taken viewers on an
odyssey that is coming to an end the way so many of Scorsese’s such anti-heroes
have. The twist here is that instead of
doing another Italian Mob film with Jewish Mob affiliation, here is Scorsese
remaking an Asian Gangster hit involving the Irish Mob in South Boston
(interesting, though not as effective as Phil Joanou’s State Of Grace, from 1990, reviewed elsewhere on this site) with
brief crossings between police power (usually incidental in most of these
films) and the most interesting appearance of the Chinese Triads since Year Of The Dragon however brief.
Jack
Nicholson is Frank Costello, the longtime head of the Irish Mob endlessly
targeted by local, state and federal authorities, but to no avail. Anxious to nail him and destroy his
organization, a task force is being set up to bring him down for good,
including the bright new star of the force, Colin Sullivan (Matt Damon). What the authorities don’t know is that Colin
is an old friend of Costello feeding him tips to stay a few steps ahead of
them. What only two men know inside the
department other than Colin is that Billy Costigan (Leonardo DiCaprio) is
now secretly undercover and working as a mole among Costello and his crew. The battle of wits begins.
The feds
become very interested when it looks like Costello has stolen vital technology
that could breach national defense when he intends to sell vital technology the
Chinese need via a triad for big bucks.
That increases the pressure all around.
Costigan keeps taking near fatal risks as Sullivan tries to find him and
the mystery and suspense of the piece makes the deadly lifestyle of gangsters
more so as the police are also in increased harms way.
Besides
being one of his few blockbuster hits, one reason Scorsese is getting so much
recognition for this is simply because it is his work coming full circle,
influencing several generations of filmmakers worldwide, then here he is taking
this popular foreign Gangster film and trumping it all the way as if to answer
back that he is the master of this material all the long. Of course, that also waters down things a bit
and pulls Scorsese away from the grander, bolder and more groundbreaking
Gangster films he has made before (GoodFellas
and Casino in particular) yet shows
that he still has the same energy he has had since his early films.
The other
big problem is that despite a very effective supporting cast that includes Mark
Wahlberg, Martin Sheen, Ray Winstone (known for several British Thrillers and
Gangster films himself) and Alec Baldwin, Nicholson steals every scene he is in
much the way Daniel Day Lewis did in Scorsese’s Gangs Of New York. That
makes a film with much anxiety (not unlike Scorsese’s After Hours if you think about it) and more out of Scorsese’s
element than usual to juggle that much more awkward at times. However, the film does deal with the usual
Scorsese themes just the same, such as urban struggle, issues of integrating
into society, focus on ethnic groups and issues of persecution complex that can
represent flaws for the various characters.
However,
the film is so busy juggling the multiple storylines and intersecting lives
that it never has the time for any serious self-reflection on any one of the
characters. Some found this to be a nice
change of pace for Scorsese, but others like this critic felt it was a more
commercial move to go broad to entertain the audience. Either way, it is a good if not great film,
even with its limits. For another look
at the film, you can read our theatrical critic’s take at:
http://www.fulvuedrive-in.com/review/4374/The+Departed+(Theatrical+Film+Review)
The
anamorphically enhanced 2.35 X 1 image on the regular DVD side looks good, with
only some minor issues about the detail and a clean, consistent image for the
format. However, it is no match for the
1080p digital HD-DVD High Definition side in delivering the impressive
cinematography by long-time Scorsese collaborator Michael Ballhaus, A.S.C., who
also shot GoodFellas, but not Casino.
Though I liked the look of Casino
in general better, this transfer is one of the best Warner has offered in
either HD format yet. Needless to say,
the camerawork is some of the best of the year, as is always the case when
these master filmmakers collaborate.
The
standard Dolby Digital 5.1 mix on the regular DVD side is adequate and the
dialogue is among the sounds favoring the front speakers, but the soundtrack
offers so much more than you hear here (as the theatrical screening this critic
attended to can attest) and the HD-DVD’s Dolby TrueHD is the way to go, even
over the Dolby Digital Plus 5.1. Yes,
Scorsese’s choice of music is always clever, though like some of Kubrick’s
choices on The Shining, Scorsese
picks music he has previously used as an acknowledgement that this is a more
commercial effort. The mix has its
moments, while Howard Shore’s score is a plus to the whole film.
Extras
include the original theatrical trailer on the DVD side, plus two featurettes (Crossing Criminal Cultures and The Story Of The Boston Mob) and nine
deleted scenes of interest with intros by Scorsese himself. Not bad for a film that is going to be a very
popular title on disc and an HD favorite.
For more on Scorsese, try these links:
Casino (HD-DVD)
http://www.fulvuedrive-in.com/review/4796/Casino+(1995/HD-DVD)
GoodFellas (HD-DVD)
http://www.fulvuedrive-in.com/review/3690/Goodfellas+(HD-DVD)
Martin Scorsese Collection (MGM)
http://www.fulvuedrive-in.com/review/1946/Scorsese+-+The+Martin+Scorsese+Film+Collection+(MGM)
- Nicholas Sheffo
