RMCF
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I actually think The Departed is a fairly poor movie, and all the swearing in the world wouldn't make it "realistic".
Although I do not agree with you in that I think it is a fairly poor movie, I do not think it was as good as it was being hyped up to be (perhaps indicative of the dearth of good films around these days that decent ones are held up as 'fantastic').
Don't get me wrong, I really enjoyed it. But I have read some reviews and scores of it on the internet and you'd think it was the best film ever.
Its a very very good film, but I don't think it is a masterpiece as some are calling it. I do not think it is anywhere near as good as Goodfellas. Scorese should have got the Oscar for that (or Raging Bull) - now he gets it by default because there is no major competition or because the Academy thinks they owe him one.
So want don't I like about it? Well firstly, and I do not know if I will be able to describe this properly or not, but it comes across as a little contrived. Almost trying too hard to be gritty and harsh. It is almost that all the characters are stereotypes of ones you have seen in other gangster films. And they are played OTT to try to add 'realism'. Hence the massive amount of cursing that started this thread.
And I read that some people think that Wahlberg was fantastic - well his character for me just sums up all I'm trying to say. His performance was so OTT I found it a bit laughable. There is no way that any real person working in such a department would act like that (reminded me of parts of Al Pacinos performance in Heat - just not realistic).
Anyway, rant over. Definitely an excellent film, but not a 95/100 as I read somewhere.