adam
That aside – I loved it. “The Departed” is one of those rare cases for me where I was really looking forward to a film, and it fulfilled my expectations on every level – can’t wait to grab this on DVD as soon as it comes out.
Matt Damon, Leonardo DiCaprio, Jack Nicholson, Martin Sheen, Mark Wahlberg, Alec Baldwin, Ray Winstone
I remember reading about Martin Scorsese signing on to direct a remake of the Hong Kong film “Infernal Affairs”, and like with most things Scorsese does from the brilliant “Goodfellas” through to the massively under-rated “The King Of Comedy”, I was pretty interested from the get go. When Leonardo DiCaprio, Matt Damon & Jack Nicholson all signed on the dotted line as well, I couldn’t wait for it. Having only just recently seen the original film for the first time (and not being quite as impressed as I was told I would be), I walked into the theatre expecting to see a carbon copy, and while some of the larger set pieces throughout the movie are very close, Scorsese has managed to make this his own, with the assistance of a fantastic cast, not limited to the principals involved.
“The Departed” is the story of Colin Sullivan (Damon), a member of Frank Costello’s (Nicholson) organized crime family working in the Boston P.D., and Billy Costigan (DiCaprio), a graduate fresh from the Police Academy who is put in deep undercover within said crime family. After it becomes obvious that both the good guys & the bad guys have a mole among them, Sullivan and Costigan have to work quickly to find each other out before the penny drops and they wind up dead.
I hate writing synopsis of films, so excuse me if what I just wrote there sucks badly – the easiest way to describe it is that it’s just a good old Cops & Robbers flick that never lets up from the very beginning to the brutal climax, even with a two and a half hour run time. I said before that I love near on everything that Scorsese has done, but even with a guy like that calling the shots, you still need the actors to pull it off, and everyone here excels across the board. Damon, DiCaprio & Nicholson are the obvious standouts, but to be as complimentary as I can, I would have to say that I would rate this as DiCaprio’s best performance to date, Damon’s best since “Good Will Hunting” & easily Nicholson’s greatest role since “The Witches Of Eastwick” – they are just that damn good in this, and if they don’t win a combined shit load of trophies come awards season, I would be very surprised.
So that’s the main guys taken care of, but without the support, it wouldn’t work – DiCaprio’s contacts in the force Queenan (Martin Sheen) & Dignam (Mark Wahlberg), Costello’s associates Mr. French (Ray Winstone) & Fitzy (David O’Hara), Madolyn (Vera Farmiga), the Psychiatrist who gets involved with both Sullivan & Costigan, Anthony Anderson as Brown, Alec Baldwin as Damon’s boss Ellerby (responsible for one of the best lines in the film – I’ll just say “Patriot Act”) – everyone shines here, and along with a killer soundtrack peppered with the likes of The Dropkick Murphy’s, The Rolling Stones, John Lennon, Van Morrison & The Beach Boys – the whole experience is very kick-ass.
If I could offer any sort of advice about who should see this, I would say that if you have never seen a crime related Scorsese film before, you should be very aware that the violence he shows is very fast, very brutal, and very realistic – so if you are squeamish in the least, I would give this a miss, but if you can stomach a bit of claret here and there (a bit… who am I kidding – a lot of claret), you’ll be fine. To be honest, and this is really the only criticism I can really offer up, is that some of Nicholson’s scenes seem to end very abruptly – now I heard that the original cut of the film was hitting the 3 hour mark, so I can understand the need to give a bit of a trim here & there – but….. I don’t know, some of his scenes seemed to end a bit earlier, and it wasn’t something I noticed in other sections of the film.
That aside – I loved it. “The Departed” is one of those rare cases for me where I was really looking forward to a film, and it fulfilled my expectations on every level – can’t wait to grab this on DVD as soon as it comes out.
Rating : 
Reviewer : Adam Weeks
