Our Rating: 2.5 (that too, just because of Jack Nicholson)
Rotten Tomatoes: 92%
Yahoo Movies Critics: A-
Yahoo Movies Users: B+
Starring: Jack Nicholson, Leonardo DiCaprio, Matt Damon, Mark Wahlberg.
Director: Martin Scorsese
Oscar winner? This movie?! 92% on Rotten Tomatoes? This movie?! No wonder critics are thought to be utterly pretentious and unreasonable! What does this movie have that all cops and moles movies don't? Well, there's Jack Nicholson, and then there's the disappointment of watching this movie. Make no mistake, Jack is AMAZING in this movie, but all the rest is utterly boring cliches stuck together.
You know a movie is special when it manages to send me off to sleep. In that respect, this movie is top-notch. It is ultra-special. One of a kind. Had it not been for Nicholson, this would've been even more 'special'. But then, Jack Nicholson plays Jack Nicholson to great effect in each of his movies. There's nothing new about that.What is new, is just how low a great director like Arty-Marty will stoop just to give this film a gritty feel. Whoever said that cursing by the truckload on screen gives the movie a realistic, gritty feel, must've been born yesterday. No really, you can't count the number of times our beloved f-word has been uttered on screen. The only gauge of how ridiculous the dialogue sounds due to the infestation of the f-word (in its root form, not even as some imaginative hybrid!) is the fits of laughter I was sent into every time I heard it being uttered. Had I not known better, I would've thought that this was a spoof on the f-word. Seriously, it's been overdone to the point of ridiculousness. A little more effing restraint would've made the dialogue more natural and the movie more gritty.
The effing f-word isn't my only concern. The fact that, by their very nature, cop stories are supposed to be engrossing, and this particular one put my off to sleep, really tells you something about the loosness of the script. In fact, the character of Sullivan's (Matt Damon) wife, played by Vera Farmiga, does nothing to either entertain you, nor further the story. A lot of sub-plots are murky to say the least, and should have been dropped altogether. The pacing is extremely jerky, with the twistless ending being to bloody and abrupt. Yeah sure, all that blood spatter and all does look impressive, but you really have to ask yourself, what was the need? why are characters behaving the way they are?
It all boils down to the fact that not even Jack Nicholson can carry such a convoluted offering on his own, and he really could've done with some help, at least in the script department. Watch this one only to find out how over hyped movies can get...
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