Departed has left the building, stratospherically

Rating: 9/10 (16 January 2007)

The world is divided into two; those who believe Scorcese has been victimised and deliberately ignored in the Oscar stakes and those who think he's trying a little tooooo hard to worm his way into the Oscar Academy's graces. Okay, so TAXI DRIVER (9/10) could've won but it was also against NETWORK (9/10) and the eventual winner ROCKY (9/10). And who could forget the incredible KING OF COMEDY(10/10) with Bob De Niro playing the wanna be standup Rupert Pupkin with Jerry Lewis playing the straight man.
Yes, with his last two films, you watched them and go "so what?" GANGS(6/10) was almost camp in some of its violence with the cartoonish Daniel Day Lewis , while THE AVIATOR (6/10) made one look on in horror at Leo De caprio's miscasting. And made you wonder what the hell he saw in Leo apart from his pretty blue eyes? He's back. This is gangster opera. Ebbing and flowing through a sometimes complex film with more crosses( and double ones) than a Lourdes shrine. And put any TITANIC (6/10) misconceptions to rest; this film shows Leo can act. He plays an undercover cop, Billy Costigan, who goes so deep that he finds it hard to come back. An emotional tour de force, and force majeur. Makes me look forward to seeing BLOOD DIAMOND in the coming year.
The basic premise is of undercover infiltrations into the violent ganglands of Boston; not the first natural milieu for the genre you'd think of, in this most mayflower of cities. Jack Nicholson plays a crime boss who does it as much for the love of the game as for the profit it brings. Matt Damon is an ambitious cop with plans for the future which take him outside of the force. But his past won't free him and he knows it. An at times unbearably tense film, it gripped me throughout.
Great support by Mark Wahlberg, Martin Sheen, alec Balwin, Ray Winstone and the not so insignifcant love interest Vera Farmiga.
And expect to see Marty up on the stage come February 25th, with his cheeks shining with tears and Jack in the front row, slow clapping him up with his trademarked grin.