The Departed (re-review): I saw this a second time last Saturday to analyze it more thoroughly. The first time I saw this movie, my face was so close to the screen I think I could only see about 3/4. This time I sat all the way at the back and again the movie was great. Yes, it is not close to the original but it did get better on the second viewing. I have to give props to Leonardo DiCaprio though as he gave a magnificent performance. Matt Damon was admirable, Jack was Jack, Martin Sheen was great but underutilized, and Marky Mark was hilarious.

Watching it the second time (this time with a much more mature audience), I could see the film's flaws even more. I think the film's main mistake was casting Jack Nicholson as the main bad guy. Jack Nicholson no longer acts in films, he's just himself. I think Robert DeNiro would have been a great choice (he is half Irish by the way) or a made up Daniel Day-Lewis (that would have been amazing). A lot of film's plot points that were perfect in the original don't click here. Another mistake is the addition of unnecessary exposition. I don't want to spoil anything but this again is with Nicholson's role. More Nicholson = more exposition. As I have written before, the combining of the girlfriend and psychiatrist into one person is a huge mistake because it subtracted from the duality of the two moles. The last mistake is with the elevator scene. I'm not gonna spoil anything but it is indeed laughable. The original film's scene was shot and directed beautifully, concise, and to the point. Here it just goes too overboard.

Even with these mistakes, the film's pacing is absolutely gut wrenching from start to finish. The film is about 150 minutes long but it flies by pretty fast. I would be pretty pissed if DiCaprio was not nominated for his performance here as it is quite good. I also mentioned something in my previous review that I hated the ending. Well, I'm going to change that statement because the ending is here is completely appropriate to the context of the movie. If it was in the original (which it isn't) then it would suck but here it is right.


Flags of Our Fathers: Unforgiven was amazing, A Perfect World was astonishing, and Million Dollar Baby was haunting and stupendous. So why is Flags of Our Fathers so completely BORING? I don't think it comes from the lack of acting talent (only Adam Beach shines here and I mean truly shines), the graceful and minimalist music (composed by Eastwood himself), or the direction (which is excellent). I think the problem lies in Paul Haggis' script. Paul Haggis, the winner of the undeserving Best Picture winner "Crash", who wrote Million Dollar Baby with such uncomprimising intensity and focus loses it all here.

Here, the writing lacks focus and the scenes was haphazardly are all over the map. Instead of being at one place at one time, we have a scene where Ryan Philippe is at Iwo Jima and one minute later he's in Chicago during a parade. This does not happen only once but many times during the movie and it is jarring to the viewer. I began to get so tired of constant jumping of timelines that I got bored. As for the acting, it is merely okay. Again Adam Beach is truly the standout here who plays a flag raiser who would rather fight with his unit in Japan than celebrate the so-called "heroism". His performance shows great maturity unseen in his previous performances such as "Smoke Signals" or "Windtalkers". Ryan Philippe is just decent as "Doc" a doctor, Jesse Bradford is piss poor as Rene Gagnon, and unbelievably Paul Walker, who is in the film for two minutes, is stiff.

I just hope that the upcoming release of "Letters from Iwo Jima" is a better film. The film was also directed by Eastwood but completely acted in Japanese and starring Ken Watanabe. I've heard that the film is the film that "Flags" was supposed to be. The original title of "Letters from Iwo Jima" was supposed to be "Red Sun, Black Sand" but Hollywood being the town that shits on everything decided to crap on the title and release it with a Lifetime approved one.

Of the two films (The Departed, Flags of Our Fathers), The Departed truly deserves to be in the running for best American film of the year. Flags of Our Fathers lacks focus, great acting, and great writing to be called one of the best films of the year. I'd even go to say that it's Eastwood's most disappointing film. It's sad because the trailer made it look so good.