A Perfect Blend Of Vintage and Contemporary Scorsese

Rating: 10/10 (3 February 2009)

The Departed is a great film to say the least. The film centers around an entire police department's chase of a top boss in Boston. The plot may not seem original but the film gives you a feeling of something new with the intensity of that of a drama and the awe of an action flick.
The acting of the cast all around is great with the likes of actors such as Leonardo Dicaprio playing a rookie cop getting his first assignment. As a result of his family's history of criminal activity his first job is to be working undercover gathering intelligence in the dealings of a mob boss played different yet brilliantly by Jack Nicholson. This goes without notice as Nicholson has his man on the inside as well. On the opposite side of the spectrum Matt Damon also plays a rookie cop starting out of the box with a good job though as a result of his honorable family history. There also plenty of great supporting performances by Martin Sheen and Ray Winestone as well as a breakout performance given by Mark Wahlberg.
Despite so many explosive performances this film is driven by its story so perfectly directed by Martin Scorsese. With this film Scorsese uses his skill to show the hard and gritty tough life on the streets as he once did so often as well as his fine attention to detail with amazing plot dynamics. What both of these things culminate into is a well rounded and balanced film with an unlimited scope of cops and gangsters. The depth of the film is limitless as it is so well layered. Scorsese here makes the film of his life here throwing out everything he has. Scorsese and William Monahan, who so adapts this film so vividly, combine for one of the most thrilling and psychologically explosive movies in ages as the film so perfectly illustrates nothing is as it seems as well as a chain is only as strong as strong as its weakest link. We may think we know it all from profile and background checks but as long as we don't know whats going on inside a person's mind we won't ever know what the person is truly about.