Scorsese goes back, once again to gangsterland.

Rating: 10/10 (6 October 2006)

The Departed tells the story of two men working for the Boston state police; one is mole working inside the mob, and the other is a mole working for the Irish mob boss. Leonard DiCaprio plays Billy Costigan, the cadet police officer sent undercover to infiltrate the Irish mob, which is headed by Frank Costello, played by the wickedly wonderful and outrageous Jack Nicholson. Matt Damon plays Colin Sullivan, the mole inside the police force that tips off Costello on the police's activity while trying to put him away. Martin Sheen, Alec Baldwin and Mark Wahlberg also star as police officers that are heading the investigation into putting Costello and his whole crew behind bars (or in a casket). Costigan works his way into the mob and Sullivan works his way up into the internal affairs unit of the state police, who is actually sent in to investigate who's been tipping off the mob.
You can see a bunch of Scorsese's touches throughout the film; from his music selections (great use of Dropkick Murphys, but The Rolling Stones song is getting a bit old now), to long tracking shots and plenty of disturbing outbursts of violence; which hit you like a sledgehammer to face in the film's final moments. Where The Departed really shines are the performances. DiCaprio is great, and this is probably his best performance to date. Damon comes through, but he won't exactly blow you away, he usually delivers good work and he doesn't disappoint here. Nicholson is a scene stealing weasel that will probably be compared to, and loved much like Pesci's wild and crazy work in Goodfellas and Casino. Nicholson is perfectly cast and has a lot of fun playing a character so wildly evil and nefarious you just love to hate the son of a bitch. And what's up with Alec Baldwin? Seriously, when was the last time he was in a film this good, and seemed to be having so much fun. And Martin Sheen was also good, but he really wasn't given enough to do in my opinion.
Whether or not Martin Scorsese will actually admit that his latest film, The Departed, is a remake of the Hong Kong thriller, Infernal Affairs, remains to be seen. I probably would have gotten a little bit more enjoyment out of The Departed had it actually been an original Scorsese film like Goodfellas or Casino, but this film pretty much follows the same exact plot as Infernal Affairs; beat for beat, up until the film's last minute twist ending which, no that I think about it actually does kind of make sense. Should you see The Departed in theaters? Yes, absolutely! Especially when you look at all the other amazingly craptastic movies playing in theaters right now you should definitely go out and see it, hell, see it just for the great performances; they alone are worth the price of admission. Actually the more and more I think about it, the more I love this movie. I'll definitely need to see it again, and if necessary again and again. I actually could see myself rating this one as a ten after multiple viewings.