departed

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Ahhh. The Departed on TVB next Sunday. I have this movie on DVD but I feel excited to watch it on free TV.

You know what was interesting? The Departed was overrated by Americans. 94% on Rottentomatoes? #1 best movie of year on most critic's lists? Best Picture at the Oscars? Too much.

But over in HK, people underrated it. The mostly B-/C+ reviews? Saying it sucks compared to Infernal Affairs? Nope.

Since I'm half local and half Americaned-out, I see it from a more neutral point of view. Someone who can appreciate Scorsese AND Stephen Chow will judge these films fairly.

I rank Departed equal with IA. Both are great films in their own right.

IA is alot more stylish while Departed is fucking gritty. Both works because both realizes their strengths. You can't have Andy Lau and them cheekbones and not have some overstylized, overly edited rooftop gun scene. (Guy even wears a suit.. on a weekend? in this HK heat? COME ON!)

And you can't have a movie with Jack on screen and Scorsese off screen and not let it be gritty and in-yo-face.

The shootout and the captain's death scenes are the two best examples of the two distinct styles. In IA, as mentioned, the rooftop gun scene is overly edited, overly "stylized" and made to look like a freaking music video. Everything from Andy Lau's hair to the way Tony Leung's perfect symmatrized stance while pointing the gun looks an feels like it was planned meticulously.

Meanwhile, the same scene in Departed gritty and raw. Matt Damon shows up in a butt ugly green Kmart jacket (that most Americans wears on a lazy Sunday) and Leo is wearing a cap cause he just woke up. As soon as Damon arrives Leo throws some wild swings at him a few times (cause that's how real fighting looks like) and then resorts to 5th grader insults ("you two faced faggot! fuck you! fuck your mother! you bitch!"). The two then stands around and wobbles a bit.

Now with the captain's death scene. Anthony Wong falls on a cab just as Tony Leung walks by, then we get a slow mo shot of Tony Leung's reaction (great acting by the way, Tony) while sad music blasts through the soundtrack, followed by black and white flashbacks of TL and Anthony Wong bonding. Complete and utter "milk your emotions" scene.

Now going to the same scene in Departed. Martin Sheen falls, in silence, to the ground. We hear a loud thud. Leo then looks at the body in horror (great acting by the way, Leo). No sad music, no black and white flashbacks. Just Leo looking on in shock and muttering a "what the fuck". Scene ends.

In both cases, IA takes the heavily stylished, MTV editing apporach to the scenes while Scorsese took the gritty realisty unpretty route. The Gweilos bash IA for the MTV editing, the local HKers think Departed looks uncool.

Each style works for their respective films though. Two completely different take to the same story. I think both films are amazing (Departed still shouldn't have won that Oscar though. That's a make up win for "oh shit, we screwed over Scorsese for Taxi Driver and Goodfellas" more than anything)