Scorsese can go straight to...

Rating: 6/10 (17 October 2006)

...the editing room. That's right. Another example of modern film-making's inability to tell a story in a reasonable amount of time. Much like Peter Jackson's bloated "King Kong", Scorsese's remake of another classic would have benefited from a good chopping of 30 minutes' worth of film.
Oh sure, Jack Nicholson steals another film with his performance. Matt Damon and Mark Wahlberg didn't have to go to school to learn their Boston accents, which probably saved the producers a few dollars. I didn't see the purpose of the tug-of-war between Damon and DiCaprio's characters for the female love interest...it contributed absolutely nothing to the plot.
In general, the performances were good, the bloodletting and violence were more than adequate to satiate contemporary film audiences. Overall, I'd call "The Departed" another big-screen exercise in tedium. Might as well go and see it. At least it's better than having a root canal without anesthesia.