Speaks to Scorsese's Catholic Sense of Punishment -- Just Like GoodFellas and Casino

Scorsese sugar-coated everyone in his movies. The real life people portrayed weren't as animated and glorious as depicted by their fictionalized counterparts.

I think Scorsese romanticizes and glamorizes evil people. Though The Godfather also glamorizes crime, the story of Michael Corlene is a bit different because he grew up never wanting to be a gangster. Perhaps the most consequential line in the saga is "That's my family, Kay. That's not me." Corleone desperately wants to make the family legitimate, but the higher up he goes, the more corruption he finds. He lives in his own kind of prison, and suffers a fate worse than death. He's tragically flawed.

I think The Departed is superior to the original in every respect -- except the ending. In the American version, the bad guy gets gunned down in an act of vengeance. In the Hong Kong original, he must live with the guilt. I have to retroactively give Scorsese some credit, as it turns out the studio wanted at least one of the leads to survive so that they could manufacture sequels.

A critic once said that film cannot help but romanticize almost anything on screen. Explosions, homicide, whatever. It's a difficult balancing act to show the allure, and then, without being didactic, show that these things are, in fact, terrible. People want Oreos and ice cream, not broccoli and brussels sprouts. They love the delicious smell of cooked meat, but do not actually want to know how it's made. We're constantly bargaining. For the vast majority of Wolf's screen time, we see Belfort working toward, or leading, an exciting life. I think the message people take away is "that's awesome, but get rich the right way (mostly), practice a little moderation, and, most importantly, don't get caught."

Yes, the three could be a trilogy.

Scorcese is known in taking true stories and make them a complete parody which is what this movie is

Yes, he makes films about sinners.

They live large and ‘reign in hell’ but it all comes crashing down.

The Depated was interesting in that Leo suffered enormously and died early… but his soul was intact and he could form real relationships, whereas Damon enjoyed increasing worldly success and luck but in the end he was an impotent fake who was betrayed and abandoned by everyone before getting his brains blown out.