Scorcese back on form with a modern classic

Rating: 9/10 (13 October 2006)

As a big fan of Martin Scorcese and his earlier films, I have long waited for him to produce a modern classic and return to his favoured gangster genre. Goodfellas, Casino and Mean Streets specifically are all gangster classics but in recent times, his modern stuff, like The Gangs of New York hasn't been as watchable. I wondered before hand, whether this re-make of the Asian classic "Internal Affairs" was wise but as re-makes go, its fantastic. The difference this time was the classic script was back; The Departed is wonderfully written and like Goodfellas from all different angles. Its hard hitting, its funny, its tough and gritty but unlike Goodfellas, it doesn't attempt to humanise, either the Gangsters, or show their good side, or even the same with the law side. Its every man for himself in the film but what every character values deep down is loyalty and throughout the film some have it in abundance and others only to an extent. While the selfishness and greed is the downfall of some, loyalty is the downfall of others.
Jack Nicholson produces his best performance for a long time as Irish boss Frank Costello and Ray Winston is good as a more dumbed down role, as Costello's right hand man. These two men value loyalty but only show it to each other and Costello is a dangerous man to trust.
Matt Damon and Leonardo Di Caprio play differing but similar ambiguous roles and rarely appear as they seem to the people they get close to, whilst both having a keen interest in the same woman. Billy Costigan played by Di Caprio is a man with no ties in his life and whilst looking to get into law enforcement is sent on a mission to bring down Costello and his crew and has a tough job trying to keep his cover. This isn't made any easier by Matt Damon's character Sullivan, who is sent by Costello into law enforcement to keep the crew on the street and out of jail. Martin Sheen and Mark Whalberg play excellent supporting roles in the police force and are the only cops who know about Costigan's undercover operation but struggle to keep it a secret, while finding out who the rat is, in their department.
The plot twists and unfolds in a thrilling and unpredictable way, right till the end and goes down easily as one of the best gangster films of the decade. Highly recommended