Hands down best crime drama ever!

Rating: 10/10 (23 December 2010)

Scorsese's all time best film ever made says nothing. This is one of the best directed, acted, produced, and written films made period. Scorsese never fails to impress us, and proves it greatly in this. An all out full cast: Jack Nicholson, Matt Damon, Leonardo DiCaprio, Martin Sheen, Mark Wahlburg, Alec Baldwin...the list goes on.
A lot of people compare this to the Asian 2002 classic "Infernal Affairs" with it's identical story. This film not only tells it better, but does it better in general. This film includes some of the best performances iv'e ever seen in movies. Every role is convincing as it can be, and every second keeps you on edge until the very end.
The story starts out simple, but quickly goes into complex situations that will have you on the edge of your seat. The film takes place in Boston, Massachusetts, where Irish Mob boss Francis "Frank" Costello plants Colin Sullivan as an informant within the Massachusetts State Police. Simultaneously, the police assign undercover cop William "Billy" Costigan to infiltrate Costello's crew. When both sides realize the situation, each man attempts to discover the other's true identity before his own cover is blown. Not only a clever story, but it stretches the idea of story telling to incredible boundaries.
Leonardo DiCaprio's performance is without a doubt the most underrated performance ever. I honestly think he should have gotten an Oscar, but his highest achievement was a Golden Globe nomination. He's good in the entire movie, but his true performance begins when he starts working with Costello. He becomes psychologically tortured by watching all these innocent lives being tortured by the Irish mob, and by the fact that any minute, his cover could be blown and he could die at any moment. His performance dragged me into the film so much, that I felt so bad for him to the point where I almost cried. Not really, but I felt like it. Everyone else is amazing also, but I think Leo's performance truly puts you in the position of a tortured soul. Jack Nicholson is hilarious as Costello. He's ruthless and violent, but keeps his cool when he needs to. Obviously he's the bad guy, so Leo is always on edge when he's around him. Then when Costello is acting goofy, Leo doesn't know what to do. He pretty much acts like a standard mob boss...having no worries in the world, wanting money and sex. Matt Damon is pretty interesting to watch, because he actually starts to work like an actual cop and help track down Costello, as if he changed sides. Martin Sheen and Mark Wahlburg pretty much work as a group. They're the only ones that know William is undercover, so they pretty much have to babysit him the whole time. Wahlburg is a huge prick in this film, but trust me when I say by the end of this film, you'll love him. But what I don't like is that out of all the amazing performances in this film...He's the only one who gets an Oscar nomination. Really? Out of all those, you chose him? I'm not saying it's not good, but Leo's was way better, I think they all should have gotten one, and if just one, then Leo. I don't get what the Academy liked some much about Mark's performance, but I have to say it's a little overrated. Martin Sheen has a pretty good character. Since Costigan's dad is dead, Sheen treats him like a son, and becomes a father figure. Alec Baldwin is just there for laughs in my opinion...that's about it. Oh, and you got the cop shrink who starts dating Damon, then dating Costigan. She's all right, but she's not all that important.
The film combines itself well with comedy. It knows when to be serious, and can be pretty hilarious at times. The funniest performances are probably Baldwin and Nicholson. Oh, and as far as dialogue goes, as long as you constantly say the "F" word, you pretty much filled in half the script. Not even joking. Too many of them to count.
I don't how to describe how brilliant this film is. Scorsese is a mastermind, and knows exactly how to please me every single second, (no homo) If you haven't seen this...SEE IT RIGHT AWAY! It is without a doubt the best crime drama film ever. An 11/10