Incredibly paced and interesting, though with a slightly disappointing ending.

Rating: 8/10 (31 May 2016)

You will either be completely intrigued by this movie or completely turned off by it. If you don't mind gratuitous amounts of profanity and some brutal violence and love a complex plot, it's great fun to watch. The first hour is a roller coaster of intercuts and setups. I don't think there is a conventional continuous scene until the point where the story lines meet up in Costello's exchange with his Chinese trading partners. The only way to tell when a real "scene" is over otherwise is when the soundtrack changes songs.
In some ways I kind of wish this had been made into a TV series because we would have gotten all of those smaller moments that weren't important enough to show in 150 minutes. For Sullivan and Costigan to be so trusted by their superiors, there had to have been hundreds of other cumulative events that made Costello and Ellerby to not suspect them of betrayal. As it was, we get some great and interesting scenes on this topic. One would think that there would be no suspense if we already know who the moles are, but the suspense comes from the question of how they will be discovered and how they can uncover each other.
For this reason, much of the plot is character driven. You'll have a favorite and least favorite character by the end. But it seems that they want you to side with Costigan rather than Sullivan. Costigan hates the crimes he has to take part in, whereas Sullivan works for Costello by choice and mostly for his own benefit. Aside from them, the supporting cast is not presented in an overly positive or negative light. Even Costello and Mr. French are not made so despicable that they cannot be liked. I wasn't huge on the main characters getting gradually killed off in the last 45 minutes of the movie, but it does result in some good twists.
There are not many movies that top this one in technical execution. Sure there are big budget CGI action movies and such now, but the raw trade of filmmaking is at its best here. The pacing of the script and Scorsese's work directing as well as the great use of music are excellent and make a good story into a great movie. The acting is pretty good, though it wasn't Damon's best performance and Wahlberg was not Oscar worthy as Dignam. However, DiCaprio and Nicholson were great in their roles.
If you plan on going into the filmmaking business, this is a must-see. If not, it's an interesting watch or two hours of torture. I know some people dislike Scorsese's style and think it's unpleasant to watch, which is understandable. But in some ways, it's good to know that the sort of crime that goes on in mob movies is very real. The one thing I can guarantee you will not be is bored. Overall Rating: 8.6/10.