A long awaited return to form

Rating: 9/10 (14 February 2007)

The Departed is a consistently engaging crime thriller from director Martin Scorsese. It's also the Scorsese film that I've been waiting for since Goodfellas, and I'm sure others feel the same way too. This film is a remake of the Hong Kong film Infernal Affairs, however this review will make no comparisons to that movie. Leonardo Dicaprio and Matt Damon play two moles. Dicaprio plays Billy Costigan, a rookie cop who goes deep undercover to take down mob boss Frank Costello (Jack Nicholson). Matt Damon plays Colin Sullivan, the man working for the state police as Costello's mole. The film also features Mark Wahlberg, Martin Sheen, and Alec Baldwin. Wahlberg gives the best performance of his career and nobody can play the sinister bad guy like Jack Nicholson.
Martin Scorsese is the master of the crime drama, as he as proved time and time again. His previous two films (not counting the Bob Dylan documentary Nor Direction Home) The Aviator and Gangs of New York had their merits, but they were missing something that the classic Scorsese films contained. Aviator was an interesting bio pic. while Gangs was defined by an Oscar worthy performance from Daniel Day Lewis. The Departed however is a return to form. Its main strength lies in the story telling, Throughout the film and especially in relation to the Damon and Dicaprio characters. You don't exactly know who's good or who's bad. It constantly keeps you guessing as any great Drama should.
The Departed is definitely Scorsese's best film since Goodfellas and dare I say it's better then that. Actually I won't say that, quite yet. Time will decide that factor. I won't go the full 10 yet. More like a very high 9 1/2. That in mind The Departed is an excellent crime drama from the master of the genre and one of our greatest filmmakers.