Hong Kong, Boston, and New York
The Departed (2006)
on one hand it's hard to criticize Scorsese -- he's practically canonized in the church of cinema, and for good reason. I thought Mean Streets and Raging Bull were achievements of the jaw dropping variety. He regularly gets amazing performances out of the actors.
but then there's that urge to draw a moustache on the statue of St Marty. I maintain that Goodfellas was a good movie, possibly even great, but incredibly overrated. same goes for Casino (minus the "great" part).
The Departed started off strong. things were happening as we were introduced to the players (I particularly liked how Jack was filmed in shadow for the first few minutes he was on screen). then there was the match cut to Matt Damon -- predictable, but still powerful and tasteful.
the great stuff kept coming -- I almost didn't notice how it started to falter in the second act. I think what tipped me off was Leo's scene with the dept shrink. her part was written very poorly, almost like the role existed only to react to Leo and Matt.
narrative weaknesses aside, Scorsese really knows how to make a movie. the camera swoops, lunges, crouches, and peers, and the sequences were shot and arranged with clarity and skill.
the running time was another issue. two and a half hours is too long for this story. some shaving here and there, and the removal of any scenes without Jack, Matt, and Leo would have helped immensely.
well worth watching. any Scorsese movie is almost a textbook on film grammar and movie storytelling.