The Departed Has Left 314 Wash Street

Rating: 8/10 (19 March 2007)

lots of bodies, should be this films title. Scorsese is at his best doing movies where the villain is more fun than the main characters. Nicholson shines in this film. His glowing hallow around Nicholson makes moderate performances by the other actors playing mob guys look excellent. Tony Sirrico and Gandolfini (Sopranos) act as if they are mobsters, the guys in this film "not so much". In fact in a couple of scenes they looked bored in the background. Scorsese doesn't spend much time worrying about his background players and it shows. Many scenes where an extra actor could add something to the scene. They Bump On A Log. I believe it is an east coast acting theme that believes heroes, major characters, should only be the ones on camera. I did not like Snakes On A Plane however, the director had a moving grooving set, with lots to look at both foreground and background. I found Martin Sheen, Baldwin, and Wahlberg's performances trumped Damon's performance by a long shot. Di Caprio stole this movie. He was unrelenting, viciously psychopathic and yet tender at times. The best scene is in the porno theater when he is listening. He did not take the easy way out by just sitting there, no Di Caprio outdid both Nicholson and Damon in a scene where he's just sitting there. Wahlberg, plays his character, as a vicious jerk, which seems overplayed. However, Scorsese, plays the viewer for the fool when he, the unemployed cop, kills a rat in the end. Excellent film because Di Caprio, Sheen and Wahlberg tugged out Oscar Winning Performances from what can be played as a mobster movie. Nicholson was a perverted mobster which I felt did not do the character justice and Damon adequately weaselly did an OK job.