If Babel had been some random foreign film I had never heard of, perhaps I could have just taken it at face value. It was by no means bad but I just felt like I had been there before, with respect to the three stories. Even the Japanese story was a bit cliche. It was an almost great movie that was let down by an underwhelming plot. But hey, the movie is over 2 hours long and I can't say I was bored, so it it must have done something right. About Departed, I thought it was a very good movie but did I miss something or were there some pretty decent plot holes, especially towards the end. ****NOT REALLY A SPOILER BUT JUST IN CASE*** highlight text below to read..... I mean, being able to delete "records" with one click of the mouse is beyond stupid, IMO. And best guy DeCaprio could trust was a random person calling his phone? Did Marky Mark go in hiding after he took a leave of absence? Mr. 1400 SAT could probably have figured out that going to the FBI was a no brainer.