Shows Guy Ritchie to be the amateur that he is - 93%

Rating: 10/10 (20 February 2009)

Wow. Not since Michael's Mann "Heat" has a movie surprised me with its brutal, visceral and completely enthralling vision of the eternal battle between good and evil and how it affects all of us, whether we want it to or not. I confess, this was my first Martin Scorsese film but I completely understand why this was the one that famously got him that long-awaited Best Director gong from Oscar. Suffice to say, this ain't gonna be my last Scorsese film either...
Things are going pretty good for Boston crime lord Frank Costello (Jack Nicholson). His gang of Irish hoodlums pretty much own the streets, his empire is secure and neither the police or the FBI can seemingly touch him. The reason for this is he has a mole working within the Boston police department, Colin Sullivan (Matt Damon). So senior detectives Queenan (Martin Sheen) and Dignam (Mark Wahlberg) decide to plant a mole inside Costello's gang, local officer Billy Costigan (Leonardo DiCaprio). But when both sides discover that they are being infiltrated, the race is on to not only bring Costello down but also just to survive.
Normally, there are some things I can criticise about a movie. Even "Pulp Fiction" (my personal favourite) has its flaws but the only one I can think of is the development of Vera Farmiga's character Madolyn, which felt a touch too contrite to be believable. Everything else is fantastic. The performances from the jaw-dropping cast, surely one that only Scorsese could assemble, are faultless. Nicholson looks to be having a ball as the vile Costello and quite frankly, it's great to see him back. The script never lets you go from the first scene through to the explosive finale and this sprawling, epic tale is told over an unexpectedly brilliantly soundtrack - just needed a few more Rolling Stones tracks for my tastes! And because this is Scorsese and you know through reputation that this is his yard, the whole thing feels horrifyingly authentic - not just the violence (which is brutal enough to satisfy any action film fan) but the feel of the thing. If it wasn't so entertaining and didn't have big name stars all over the place, you'd think you were watching a documentary and not a remake of Hong Kong classic "Infernal Affairs".
This is probably the best gangster film to emerge since Scorsese's heyday in the Eighties and early Nineties and yet, nobody seems to be raving about "The Departed" in the same way they were about "Goodfellas". I can only assume that this is for two reasons. The first is that they haven't bothered to see this because he hasn't made a good movie since "Goodfellas" (apparently) and reasoned that this wouldn't be any good either. Fuggitabutit, this is the real deal - a welcome homecoming for a director who stuck to what he knew and came up trumps. The other reason why this film isn't getting the praise it should is due to age but given time, this will become a classic if it isn't one already. It is a movie of real, grade-A class and any doubts or questions you may have about it will be dispelled pretty quickly. Be a wise guy and go and see it.