A Great Thriller and A Great Remake

Rating: 10/10 (11 February 2010)

After years of rejection one of the greatest filmmakers in history won his well-earned Oscar for The Departed. Martin Scorsese, could, and should have won for Taxi Driver, Raging Bull, Goodfellas, Casino or Gangs of New York, but he has at least avoid being in the ranks of great directors who never won an Oscar like Stanley Kubrick and Alfred Hitchcock. The Departed is based on a brilliant Hong Kong film Infernal Affairs, which was itself was attempting to be a Hollywood thriller. Seeing that Infernal Affairs was a brilliant film which had two good sequels Plan B Entertainment did the wisest thing it could, get the best writer and director available, William Monahan and of course Scorsese.
South Boston is a famously Irish Catholic area of America, it's underworld is run by Frank Costello (Jack Nicholson), a ruthless gangster who gets up to usual activities like drugs trafficking, extortion, theft, etc... He recruits a boy who trains to be a police officer, Colin Sullivan (Matt Damon); who becomes his mole within the Massachusetts State Police. Another recruit was Billy Costigan (Leonardo DiCaprio), a young man whom family is notoriously dodgy. He gets recruited by Captain Queenan (Martin Sheen) and Staff Sergeant Dignam (Mark Wahlberg in his best performance) to go deep undercover and infuriate Costello's organisation. So the mob and police have moles in each other, and both men raise up the ranks within their organisations. Sullivan does well for himself, joining a special unit, making money, has a good apartment need the state building and forms a relationship with Dr. Madolyn Madden (Vera Farmiga). Whilst Costigan has to deal with the stress of being undercover, having live in a violence world, deal with the enforcer Mr. French (Ray Winstone) and has to see Madolyn. Both the mob and the police discover they have moles in their organisations and a deadly cat and mouse develops as the two men have to find out who the other is.
These is an excellent remake, translating the setting well to America. It keeps the basic plot of Infernal Affairs, adding a few elements from Infernal Affairs 2, but Scorsese and Monahan ensure that they make their own film: an excellent thriller, not just about crime and police investigation, but about the ideas of identity, betrayal and the psychological strain this world would have on a person. Both the mob and the police are very macho worlds where people need to be tough to survive. These are complex characters in a difficult world, where loyalties can be made and broken. Scorsese and Monahan also tells a complex plot with a number of things going on. It is a film about the conflict between the police and organised crime. Scorsese also shows his skill behind the camera once again, showing some excellent images and a world of violence. He brings you into this complex world.
They is a great cast in this film, Leonardo DiCaprio, Matt Damon, Jack Nicholson, Martin Sheen. As stated, Mark Wahlberg was in his best role and could have won an Oscar for Best Supporting Actor: a shame he torched it all in 2008. There is also a good comic moment between Wahlberg and Alec Baldwin. Vera Farmiga also shows her talent and is now doing pretty well for herself.
2006 was an excellent year for film: The Departed, Casino Royale, Children of Men, Pan's Labyrinth, The Lives of Others, The Last King of Scotland, Letters from Iwo Jima, all worthy films that could have won awards at the 79th Academy Awards.