REGARDING THE DEPARTED

SPOILER WARNING! If you have not seen THE DEPARTED, read no further.

I'm a huge fan of several Martin Scorsese films — TAXI DRIVER most especially, but also MEAN STREETS, RAGING BULL and GOODFELLAS — and with that disclaimer in mind I just sat through THE DEPARTED on DVD and was gravely disappointed. It's well-crafted as expected, but seldom have I seen a film start out so well only to see the last fifth of the movie rocket down the bowl at light speed, taking the rest of the movie with it, and it did so exactly from the moment when Mark Wahlberg's character had to just leave the procedings otherwise the story would have ended abruptly rather than continuing on for another half hour. And having Wahlberg show up at the end just added insult to injury, but then Scorsese even compounded that by having a rat run across the window sill in the final shot. That ain't symbolism, it's just bad filmmaking. If Scorsese wins an Oscar for this film it will be the most undeserved throw-him-a-bone award given thus far, actually eclipsing Sean Connery's win for THE UNTOUCHABLES, which I also did not enjoy but at least I hated that one from start to finish.

And what the fuck does the title THE DEPARTED mean, exactly? Does it refer to the departure of the moviegoer's hard-earned cash? If I'd have paid to see it I would have been pissed. With all due respect, I think it's time for Marty to hang it up.