Phenomenal Directing, mild overacting

Rating: 8/10 (1 May 2011)

Summary
This particular film focuses on the Boston police force and their attempts to infiltrate and destroy an Irish-American Mafia family within the city. Jack Nicholson appears in this film as Frank Costello, the head boss of an organized crime family. A new graduate from the Boston City Police Department, William "Billy" Costigan (Leonardo DiCaprio), goes undercover and infiltrates the crime family in order to build a case against its top members. Billy soon finds out that Frank Costello has someone inside the police force working for him. Colin Sullivan (Matt Damon) is Frank's informant and holds a position within a Special Investigation Unit. Billy was convinced to go undercover by Capt. Quenan (Martin Sheen) and Staff Sgt. Dignam (Mark Wahlberg). These two agents are the only ones within the police force that know the true identity of William Costigan. Billy works extremely hard in order to build his case against Frank Costello while Colin Sullivan frantically attempts to foil all of Billy's hard work. With the help of Collin, Frank discovers that someone in his crew is working against him. With their lives in danger, the focus for both sides then shifts to discovering each other's informants before their true identities are found out.
Theme
The central theme of this movie revolves around the identity issues that the three main characters faced. William Costigan had a very sketchy background. A few members of his family were involved in organized crime, most of which were dead. He had a lot of resentment towards these members of his family, which may have possibly driven him into police work. In the beginning of this film, he was faced with the difficulty of losing his mother. He gave the impression that he was trying to find himself and he was hoping that the police force would assist him on his journey. William's path was riddled with prescription drug abuse, violent depression, anger and psychological slipping. Next, from the time the Colin Sullivan was a small boy, he longs for a father type figure. He found this in Frank Costello. He was constantly trying to please Frank. Throughout the film, he referred to Mr. Costello as "Dad." He was constantly trying to live up to his father figures expectations of him. He wanted acceptance and unfortunately he went looking for it in the wrong person. Frank Costello was a man who knew exactly who he was and did not try to hide it. He was proud of the stature that he achieved and was very boastful of what separated him from most people. He was very forceful with his views, his words, and his actions. Frank was a very violent, sociopathic, and untrustworthy individual. Although an unsavory character, Frank was very sure of whom he was and the direction he wanted his life to go. He believed that he was very in control of his life, his destiny and other people.
This film was very much about good versus evil as well as individuals internal struggles. William and Collin both struggled with internal conflicts. Each chose their own method of dealing with this conflict. Both of these characters sought out who they truly were, but in opposite directions. But Colin and William also shared a similar interest in the same woman, which led to an interesting love triangle throughout this film. Unfortunately, in a twist ending, William and Collin met their fate in order to achieve the initial goal of dismembering/disrupting the crime family.
Take On the Film
This particular film had a modern-day Goodfellas (1990) meets American Gangster (2007) feel to it. There were definitely twists and turns to it they gave it its own unique feel. Martin Scorsese did a phenomenal job with the various editing techniques in order to give this film an upbeat and intense tempo. Through the use of the introductory monologue and various lighting techniques, he set the stage for Frank Costello, his choice mob boss for this film. The Departed was a fairly ordinary and common detective-goes-undercover story. Martin Scorsese sets this film apart from the rest through his phenomenal directing. The plot is thick, filled with constant action and suspense. It culminates to a plateau near the ending and then surprises the viewers with a twist ending.
The two downfalls I observed in this particular film were occasional overacting and ending that seems slightly disappointing. Within a few key scenes in this movie, especially involving William and Frank, it seemed like the actors were trying to be overly convincing of their role. Some of the emotions displayed seemed irrational and had a swing of emotion that seemed unnatural. This film comes to a peak when William Costigan attempts to arrest Colin Sullivan. The viewer finally gets the feel that good is going to triumph over evil. Then it seemed like the story was attempting to surprise and shock everyone and just abruptly ended in a blaze of glory. The entire two hours leading up to the final scenes had the viewer wrapped up in every moment of the plot and then the story just ended in the credits began to roll. This was a very mediocre ending to an otherwise phenomenal film.
Additional notes
An underlying moral of the film is loyalty. After all, the only survivors are Capt. Wllerby (Alec Balwin), who was completely amoral, and staff Sgt. Dingam (Mark Wahlberg), whose rigid sense of right and wrong get him suspended from the force. He then turns into a killer, out of a misguided sense of loyalty to "the law", he breaks the law in the film's final scene.