When B and I floated ideas for our first debate topic, I assumed that a "Best of '06" discussion would revolve around the merits of Best Picture Oscar winner The Departed. Props to B for relegating Mr. Scorsese's over-long, occasionally incomprehensible "good cop/bad cop" affair to #2 on his Top 5 list. (Better than Goodfellas and Raging Bull? Forgetaboudit.) The Departed was certainly the Most Hyped Movie of '06, but I wouldn't put it in my Top 5. Nor would I include B's #1 movie, United 93, which wasn't even the best 9/11 tribute film of the year.
Let's start with The Departed. I haven't seen Infernal Affairs, the 2002 Hong Kong film which served as the template for this film, yet The Departed's plot still felt overly familiar. Of course, I guess that level of familiarity proved necessary given the frequent incomprehensibility of the dialogue. Native Bostonians Matt Damon and Mark Wahlberg should have spent a few more weeks coaching Leo DiCaprio and Martin Sheen. (Sheen played Robert Kennedy in the 1974 TV movie Missiles of October, so shouldn't he have mastered the accent by now?) I won't spend all day rehashing The Departed's flaws, many of which B mentioned in his post. In fact, I agree with him that it is a good film overall, especially in its visual style. (I'd give it 2 PB jars.) Perhaps I fell victim to my own high expectations. Had I not read so many glowing reviews beforehand, I might have been more willing to overlook the film's glaring shortcomings. Sitting on the balcony level of an overheated, packed-to-the-gills theater probably didn't help. Bottom line: I love Martin Scorsese's work, I wanted to love this movie, and I still rooted for Scorsese to win Best Director. Did The Departed benefit from "let's finally reward Marty" sentiments the way Training Day benefited from "let's finally reward Denzel" sentiments 5 years ago? You be the judge.
As for United 93: I hate to bash a movie that memorializes 9/11 victims, but this film failed to engage me in its real-life drama. The documentary-style (which B mentions) may enhance the film's verisimilitude -- an imporant requirement for the first major studio portrayal of the 9/11 attacks -- yet it ultimately fails to heighten the level of suspense. We already know what tragic outcome awaits the four dozen people on board. Their last-ditch effort to retake the plane feels utterly anticlimactic. In my humble opinion, director Paul Greengrass employed handi-cam cinematography far more effectively in The Bourne Supremacy. As Jason Bourne careens across Moscow's highways in a beat-up taxi cab, you feel like you're sitting right in the car with him. United 93, perhaps through no fault of the director, lacks that visceral quality. In fact, I'd say the film was downright boring. I was more entertained by the made-for-TV Flight 93 on A&E, which premiered four months earlier. United 93's unique portrayal of anonymous group heroism deserves praise, but how well can this sentiment resonate with America's spirit of rugged individualism?
If you're looking for a cathartic 9/11 film experience, you'd be better off watching Oliver Stone's World Trade Center. Don't get me wrong -- I'm not claiming WTC is one of the best movies of the year. On the surface, WTC appears to follow the standard Hollywood disaster movie formula. To the surprise of many right-wing pundits, who expected another revisionist polemic from the director of JFK and Born on the Fourth of July, the film presents a straight-up survival narrative. Whereas United 93 uses television clips of the Twin Towers and cell phone conversations to expand the scope of its story, World Trade Center condenses the chaos of that day to the experience of two men in the rubble at Ground Zero. What the film lacks in originality, it makes up for with its visceral portrayal of the South Tower collapse. You see what it looks like to have 110 stories of concrete and steel fall all around you. You squirm in your seat as Nicolas Cage and Michael Pena (pictured above) lie trapped beneath tons of debris, desperately holding onto consciousness. The cheesy "concerned wife" cut scenes and the excessively-patriotic conclusion take away from the movie's success in my mind, but the unnverving claustrophobia and desperation conveyed in the film allows us to better appreciate the sacrifice of the 360+ police officers, fire fighters, and paramedics who made a conscious decision to rushed into the burning towers. World Trade Center: 2 PB Jars, The Departed: 2 PB Jars, United 93: 1.5 PB Jars.
As for United 93: I hate to bash a movie that memorializes 9/11 victims, but this film failed to engage me in its real-life drama. The documentary-style (which B mentions) may enhance the film's verisimilitude -- an imporant requirement for the first major studio portrayal of the 9/11 attacks -- yet it ultimately fails to heighten the level of suspense. We already know what tragic outcome awaits the four dozen people on board. Their last-ditch effort to retake the plane feels utterly anticlimactic. In my humble opinion, director Paul Greengrass employed handi-cam cinematography far more effectively in The Bourne Supremacy. As Jason Bourne careens across Moscow's highways in a beat-up taxi cab, you feel like you're sitting right in the car with him. United 93, perhaps through no fault of the director, lacks that visceral quality. In fact, I'd say the film was downright boring. I was more entertained by the made-for-TV Flight 93 on A&E, which premiered four months earlier. United 93's unique portrayal of anonymous group heroism deserves praise, but how well can this sentiment resonate with America's spirit of rugged individualism?
If you're looking for a cathartic 9/11 film experience, you'd be better off watching Oliver Stone's World Trade Center. Don't get me wrong -- I'm not claiming WTC is one of the best movies of the year. On the surface, WTC appears to follow the standard Hollywood disaster movie formula. To the surprise of many right-wing pundits, who expected another revisionist polemic from the director of JFK and Born on the Fourth of July, the film presents a straight-up survival narrative. Whereas United 93 uses television clips of the Twin Towers and cell phone conversations to expand the scope of its story, World Trade Center condenses the chaos of that day to the experience of two men in the rubble at Ground Zero. What the film lacks in originality, it makes up for with its visceral portrayal of the South Tower collapse. You see what it looks like to have 110 stories of concrete and steel fall all around you. You squirm in your seat as Nicolas Cage and Michael Pena (pictured above) lie trapped beneath tons of debris, desperately holding onto consciousness. The cheesy "concerned wife" cut scenes and the excessively-patriotic conclusion take away from the movie's success in my mind, but the unnverving claustrophobia and desperation conveyed in the film allows us to better appreciate the sacrifice of the 360+ police officers, fire fighters, and paramedics who made a conscious decision to rushed into the burning towers. World Trade Center: 2 PB Jars, The Departed: 2 PB Jars, United 93: 1.5 PB Jars.
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