At about 126 minutes the film is a little fat, especially the middle stretch with Kate Mara; about 110 minutes would be ideal.
Kate Mara's Kentucky accent is praised, though it softens as the film goes on.
The travel is implausible: a 10-hour drive from Philadelphia to Kentucky while bleeding, and about 26 hours from Tennessee to Bozeman while the most wanted man alive.
Burning the evidence that could clear Swagger is questioned; a counterpoint says he baited them, knowing the removed firing pins would clear him.
The film hints that something terrible happened to Kate Mara's character while held by the henchman, then never acknowledges it beyond her shooting him repeatedly.
Wahlberg's ponytail is too long and looks like a wig; either grow it or skip it.
Cutting off the ponytail is read as symbolic of returning to military readiness.
No aged-worst item is offered; this participant loves a ponytail and disagrees. — Shea Serrano
The opening credits hold up, and Swagger seeking revenge for his murdered dog foreshadows the John Wick series.
Philadelphia is underused in movies; Wahlberg again wears Eagles gear, apparently kept from Invincible.
Philadelphia's colonial architecture suits conspiracy thrillers, peaking with Blow Out. — Chris Ryan
Boston would fail as an assassination city because escape routes are limited; Philadelphia is judged the right sniper city.
The name Nick Memphis and the other names hold up, while the villains get bland names like Colonel Johnson; Pena later favored characters with Latino names.
The 'one dead man talking to another' line is cited as an action staple.
Evil Danny Glover is a highlight; Lethal Weapon overshadowed his range, and his villain potential went unused for years.
A favorite line is Glover insisting he is covered and telling them to call the Joint Chiefs.
Moving to an R rating after Wahlberg signed on was a smart move, since a softer sniper movie cannot work.
It would work as a limited series rather than multi-season, but it could not be made at this light-the-wick pace and would need to be more like True Detective.
Flipped question: could it be a 10-episode Dignam show with Mark Wahlberg? Definitely.
The Dropkick Murphys are a yes: Papelbon used "Shipping Up to Boston" as entrance music and it became the Red Sox song; the Bosstones missed with "The Impression That I Get". — Bill Simmons
"Comfortably Numb" as a song had bigger moments on its original release, but this Van Morrison live-album version is a yes.
After not knowing "Comfortably Numb", quizzed to name a Pink Floyd song and answers The Wall. — Craig Horlbeck
Combat Zone porn theaters are raised, but the area had been cleaned up years before 2006, making them an anachronism; memories of the Combat Zone and a porn theater near the Boston Garden. — Bill Simmons
Alec Baldwin, no (30 Rock); Southie and extended Boston, no, done better; Vera, no (Conjuring, Up in the Air). — Bill Simmons
Kevin Corrigan is the apex mountain of being a cop-magnet cousin; the back porch view recalls Charlestown.
The "Thief's Theme" drive is called a rare great Scorsese hip-hop moment that should have been put in Apex.
Leo versus Damon; Damon's villain performance; Damon's Boston accent; Damon's contempt for firemen; Baldwin and Wahlberg running SIU; Baldwin's 'go fuck yourself'; Nicholson's death scene; Scorsese's highball-glass record; the 'black guy in Boston' line
Leo versus Damon as generational rivals, like LeBron and Durant, with Walberg compared to James Hardin and then Anthony Davis; the movie catches both at their peaks. — Bill Simmons
Leo and Damon reportedly barely saw each other during production, shooting nights and days respectively, like Heat.
Damon's performance is called underrated: an effortless, unlikable, insecure villain; many of his best roles (School Ties, Ripley, The Informant, early Good Will Hunting) are good jerks.
Damon versus Walberg for the goat Boston accent in a movie, and Damon wins: here it is the accent of someone trying to hide it while climbing, slipping out in the wrong spots; one participant says he knows nothing about the Boston accent. — Bill Simmons
Damon's real contempt for firemen, and the credits arriving 18 minutes in. — Bill Simmons
Baldwin and Wahlberg running SIU with no HR department; questions about why it is state troopers rather than Boston PD, perhaps speaking to trooper incompetence; Baldwin's "go fuck yourself" is great.
The Nicholson death scene is really good, prompting an impromptu best Nicholson death scene: Cuckoo's Nest, The Shining and Batman join The Departed as a Mount Rushmore; Witches of Eastwick is pitched; The Shining maze death is preferred by one participant. — Bill Simmons
His shirt reading Irish in the death scene; Nicholson's own choices (the dildo, the cocaine, the opera) suggest he had carte blanche.
Scorsese officially breaks the record for characters hitting another character over the head with a highball glass, and no bar scene ever works out in a Scorsese movie. — Bill Simmons
The line to Anthony Anderson that as a black guy in Boston he does not need help to be completely fucked is called a subtle, smart Boston touch. — Bill Simmons
Wahlberg and Baldwin grilling DiCaprio; driving range scene; rooftop triple cross and elevator; Frank meets Billy to 'Let It Loose'; Queenan's fall and Dignam quitting; French and Frank's 'reliable' talk; Madeline and Billy's first session and Comfortably Numb scene
The first pod handled this category loosely; this time they are doing it correctly, likened to the third Seinfeld plot when they had figured out how to incorporate Elaine, but not really.
First pick: Walberg's Dignam, with Baldwin, grilling Leo ("lace curtain motherfucker", "double kid", different accents), treated as one long scene that could be watched on YouTube for hours.
Walberg is really good here even if he dials it up; it is called the second best use of him after Dirk Diggler, and his character makes no sense, which the movie turns into a trick that pays off in the last shot; James Badge Dale's character works similarly.
The cranberry juice scene, missing from the last episode: Ray Winstone's "guys you can hit" monologue, the bar patron's "natural diuretic" line, and the later Nicholson callback; the sarcastic reaction is called exactly what would happen in a Boston bar. — Bill Simmons
Borderline pick: Damon's first date with Vera, well written and acted. — Bill Simmons
Leo meets Costello in the bar: a favorite character introduction via the two middle-aged ladies and "Mr. French", like Satan or Michael Myers arriving, then the back-room scene where the undercover cop's pushback leaves Costello wondering what is wrong with this kid.
The "spilled guineas" line is called a weird line that got greenlit and the first 35 minutes pretty racist.
DiCaprio called filming a one-on-one scene with Jack one of the most memorable moments of his life; it is unclear whether he meant the bar scene or the table scene with the drawing and rat noises, which feels improvised.
The Chinese surveillance scene, picked for Walberg's "I'm the guy who does his job. You must be the other guy," called one of the great movie lines, plus Baldwin fired up about the Patriot Act as a snapshot of the time.
The driving range scene: Baldwin's theory on marriage and Damon's "working overtime"; the golf swing is bad; the scene is nearly shot for shot from Infernal Affairs, which had no humor.
The porn theater scene is well constructed, with Nicholson's dildo, leading into the "I got this rat" scene.
344 Washington: Sheen falling to his death was shocking in the theater; the van drives over the body and blood spatters Leo; it leads straight to Walberg quitting ("two weeks with pay") and Boggs as Delahunt. — Bill Simmons
Also listed: Damon calling a dead man's phone, Costello's death scene with Jack running, Mr. French killing himself just before the car blows up, and Leo versus Damon. — Bill Simmons
Adds the random French and Frank scene about who is reliable, with the cutaway to Frank murdering his wife called anachronistic. — Chris Ryan
Adds two Madeline and Billy scenes: the first session ("two pills... give me a bottle of scotch and a handgun") and the Comfortably Numb sex scene, one of the very few good love scenes in a Scorsese movie. — Chris Ryan
Another answer: the movie is most fun when Wahlberg or Baldwin gives someone shit, especially the first Walberg sequence with Leo and Baldwin on the driving range; the rooftop confrontation, triple cross and elevator is the best executed sequence. — Sean Fennessey
Favorite: Frank meets Billy with the Stones' "Let It Loose" playing; the most enjoyed combination is Sheen falling to his death followed by Walberg quitting.
The triple shooting is among the best action Scorsese has shot, shock after shock from Anthony Anderson to Barrigan, forcing viewers to reprocess Barrigan as a Costello mole; seeing it next to Tarantino would be even more fun. — Bill Simmons
Fincher is discussed as an initially approached director. One view thinks it would repeat Se7en and The Game; another expects fundamentally different choices and a more lasting sensory impact.
Crowe is described as an earlier intended lead for a lower-budget version and is preferred by one speaker; Cage’s greater contemporary star power is said to explain the change. — Bill Simmons
An internet claim that Mark Wahlberg turned down Max California is treated as uncertain; he spends too much time in the gym for the role. — Bill Simmons
Friedkin, Verhoeven, and Gibson are mentioned as internet rumors whose reliability the panel questions. — Chris Ryan
Travolta in the lead is proposed as a way to make the film even stranger through overacting. — Van Lathan
Peterson is picked for In the Line of Fire and for set pieces and structure that rise above the accents and sappiness, despite the unnecessary Coast Guard time. — Chris Ryan
The second pick rejects Peterson over the missing 91 Red Sox footage and Diane Lane's accent, choosing Wahlberg as the best character and performance, going toe to toe with Clooney and launching the next 20 years. — Bill Simmons
