Best of Martin Scorsese

Rating: 10/10 (11 November 2006)

The best movie of the year by far... The Departed has a great script, great cast and is an excellently executed picture. In fact, I am looking forward to see the original Hong Kong version of the film.
Unlike the theme of the last few Martin Scorsese films - Gangs of New York and Aviator - the cops and robbers theme of this picture was by far the most universal. Every large city in the world has its own version of Frank Costello. Without revealing anything more than the film's trailers and other user's comments already have regarding this picture I shall say that the script is excellent. It keeps the underworld-cop as well as the underworld-common man tensions realistic. My only complaint regarding the script is the the love triangle between Costigan, Sullivan and Madolyn. I found it a little ham handed. It wasn't completely unnecessary especially as far as Costigan (DiCaprio) was concerned but all the same it could be handled in a different perspective. Though the personality and drive of Castigan, Constello and Sullivan have been well developed, the same cannot be said of the other support cast.
As far as the cast is concerned I am a big fan of Jack Nicholson and Matt Damon. Jack Nicholson as Frank Costello is cold blooded and crazy as a fox, while Matt Damon as Colin Sullivan and Costello's agent in the police depaartment finds himself between the rock and the hard place time and again and comes out of these situations with a charm befitting the classic double agent. I am not a big fan of Leonardo DiCaprio but I was pleasantly surprised with his turn on the screen. Like Damon's character he finds himself in between the good (his instincts) and bad (Costello's instincts aided with Sillivan's information) and he too portrays a double agent very believably. The support cast of Martin Sheen, Alec Baldwin and Mark Wahlberg was executed well too, though their character's especially Wahlberg's caustic portrayal of Digman was not well developed.
I must say that I have been nit-picking regarding the faults and I shall still say it get 10/10 from me. All in an all it is a great movie... definite must watch for this year...