Outstanding

Rating: 8/10 (28 January 2007)

The story is centered around the life of Billy Costigan (DiCaprio) who is working as an undercover police detective infiltrating the organization run by Frank Costello (Nicholson). The plot is complicated by the fact that Colin Sullivan (Damon) is a mole in the police department tipping off Costello and preventing the big bust from happening. Tensions build as Billy and Colin try to discover the identity of one another, and both sides discover that there is a rat/mole working in the respective organizations but unsure of who it is.
The screenplay is top notch and deserves an Oscar nod. The performances are outstanding all around and I was especially impressed with DiCaprio who plays his character with a nice blend of toughness and vulnerability. Excellent direction by Scorsese - who has shown time and time again that he knows how to tell an outstanding crime story.
The only drawback for me was the ending - for me it was a double surprise ending but I wanted something a little more emotionally and intellectually satisfying.
Overall I highly recommend this film. One of the best pictures of 2006 for sure.