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IFDB Review: Departed Recut, The:

MCP

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With "The Departed: Recut," Neglify demonstrates that not only is he among the top fan editors from a technical perspective, he also possesses that unique skill to take a movie -- and in this case a good movie -- and create an alternate, equally satisfying version. This is truly an excellent fan edit, and Neglify should be proud of his work! AUDIO/VIDEO QUALITY - 10 Even though I watched the AVI version of this edit, I detected no A/V quality issues as compared to what would be DVD quality (note - the AVI is not DVD quality, I'm only saying that I feel there was nothing that indicated any degradation from the original source, which was DVD). VISUAL EDITING - 10 Neglify really shows his talent in the visual editing arena with this edit. He has masterfully removed a major component of the plot seamlessly, while fully retaining Scorcese's trademark visual feel and and style throughout. Any visual editing errors were so minor as to be inconsequential and not worth mentioning. While watching this edit, I had the overpowering feeling that the visual editing was on par with the best I have seen, and it was a joy to experience such technical prowess, especially given the boldness of Neglify's goals. I truly could not tell most of the time if certain edits were done by Neglify or part of the original movie, which include standard cross fades but also hard cuts, visual overlays of other action while a character is speaking, quick jump cuts, freeze frames, and other techniques that if not perfectly executed, can stand out like a sore thumb. And they all fit in with the Scorcese style. Truly superb work here, Neglify! AUDIO EDITING - 9 Neglify's audio editing was also excellent, again given the amount of material cut as well as the restructuring he did to the storyline. For the most part, all the audio edits were invisible (as they should be), and he also skillfully employed more advanced techniques to allow us to move from one scene to another by using aforementioned video overlays as well as perfectly timed audio lead-ins. I have deducted a single point here only because some of the edits did stand out just a bit to me -- for example, some hard cuts seemed not quite hard enough (like they were almost a fade, almost a hard cut, but not either of them). And there were a very few number of hard cuts that felt slightly out of place (though I know Scorcese himself was employing this technique within the film). Yet these moments were so few in number and really did not detract from my enjoyment in any way. So again, excellent technical work here, Neglify! NARRATIVE - 8 Clearly the major change that this edit introduces is to delay the introduction of "the mole" from the very start of the movie to around the middle. And I am happy to report that Neglify succeeds in doing this quite successfully! By delaying this "reveal" until later, Neglify also makes the start of the movie much easier to follow. I also have to say that Neglify amplified the humor (in a good way, as humor mixed in with extreme violence is another one of Scorsee's trademarks) during the opening act of the movie, which got somewhat buried in the original due to the double storyline that one also had to pay close attention to. I think the ultimate strength and triumph of Neglify's new narrative was that we really got to stick with and get to know Costigan. This was really my favorite aspect of this edit. Costigan's character was enhanced by many specific visual editing choices Neglify made that amplified our understanding of this character's motivations, as well as enhanced our sympathy for him. Neglify really provided ample space for this character to grow, and we really got to see both how important yet how little real family Costigan had in his life. When Queenan dies, the magnitude of emotion felt was strongly punctuated by this approach. And seeing Costigan continue to reach out to whomever he could, including his relationship with Madolyn, served to truly put him into tragic hero status. Excellent, excellent work here Neglify! I also think cutting out the pregnancy was a great choice. I felt when it was introduced it merely complicated an already complicated story, and happens so late in the story that it really was a distraction more than anything else. So great job doing that as well, Neglify! As for when to finally introduce the audience to who "the mole," is could not have been an easy decision. I cannot say whether or not a better moment exists. I think the moment Neglify chose worked just fine, even if it felt a bit anticlimactic (but perhaps that was one of Neglify's goals). When "the mole" is introduced, it does coincide at the moment where the two different character's plot lines actually cross, so from a narrative perspective the choice does make sense. Thus, I have no quarrel with this choice. I think my only issues regarding this different approach to the Narrative -- and they are minor -- are that by delaying the reveal, we also lose a lot of Sullivan's character. He is much more one dimensional, and loses the father/son aspect with Cosetllo which was a key aspect to his character. By itself that would be fine -- he comes off more as a villain in this edit, and perhaps motives are not required. But there were a couple scenes that to me, felt out of place due to this approach. First was when Sullivan as buying his apartment; much is made about how big it is, and how expensive it is…Sullivan mentions he has a cosigner. This is kind of a tip off for the audience at worst, and at best it is merely confusing. The second issue I had was near the end, when Sullivan finally kills Costello. The dialog between them heavily implies a deeper relationship we never actually got to see or experience, and thus it felt a bit confusing or out-of-place. Beyond that, I did feel like the pacing was slightly hurt somewhat with the types of cuts made to Sullivan's character in the beginning. We see him briefly, and interspersed with Costigan, but we (necessarily) don't get to understand anything about his background (unlike Costigan, whose background is discussed in great deal by Queenan and Dignam). Perhaps it might have worked better from a Narrative perspective to just delay our introduction to Sullivan until we see him after all his training exercises and he is already a cop. For example, maybe when Ellerby does his first introduction to the cops about who they are going after (which is also our introduction to Cosetello in this version of the story). My only other issue is that, like the original movie, the plot still is a bit complicated to follow at times. This is not the fault of the editor, who was meticulous in not introducing any plot holes, and in fact (as I said earlier) does reduce the complexity. I do believe part of Scorcese's intention was to create a sense of confusion throughout the movie (why else would he cast the two main roles with actors who have a very similar appearance?) Minor issues aside, I want to emphasize that Neglify succeeds brilliantly with his major narrative change to this intricate and complexly plotted movie; it's a change that could easily have fell flat on its face, but in fact did quite the opposite! Well done, Neglify! ENJOYMENT - 9 When I first watched The Departed, I must say I didn't enjoy it all that much due to the complexity of the plot. I was not expecting it to be that complex I think! When I watched it again (perhaps a year or two later) I came in knowing I had to really pay attention, and knowing that, I greatly enjoyed the movie. But I could imagine that this is the type of movie where I have to be in the right mindset in order to enjoy. Thus my rating for the original varies anywhere from a 7 to a 9. If I haven't already made this clear, I greatly enjoyed Neglify's version of this movie! It is just as good as the original, and thus I must give it the same enjoyment rating as compared to when I enjoyed the original the most. Since this is a FanMix and not a FanFix, I hope equality in enjoyment is seen as a very high compliment, since it means the editor was able to change the story substantially yet still provide the same level of enjoyment (which in this case, is very high!) OVERALL RATING - 9 Overall, this is a stellar example of what fan editing is all about. Neglify demonstrates truly admirable technical skills, while masterfully re-telling a story that ends up providing the audience a significantly different experience yet is just as good -- and possibly better -- than the original in many ways. Just like the original movie, Neglify's made me think afterward about what I watched, and many moments from the film stayed with me long after the end credits rolled. I think that is the mark of true excellence, and I salute Neglify for achieving it! RECOMMENDATION I highly recommend this edit to all fans of the Departed, as well as to anyone who might enjoy this specific movie genre!

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