Scorsese gets back on track

Rating: 10/10 (10 November 2006)

As good as I expected. I think its Scorsese's best since Goodfellas. Scorsese returns to his unfiltered best to make this entertaining crime film.
The film revolves around an undercover cop, played by DiCaprio, who is sent to infiltrate Nicholson's mob organization. On the flip side Nicholson sends his "son", played by Damon, into the police force as his spy. The tension grows as both men reveal the inner workings on the organizations they have infiltrated. The plot reveals plenty of twists and turns.
Scorsese always seems to bring together a talented cast and he does it again here. I always find DiCaprio to be very "hit or miss" in his roles. He does well here, very well in fact. He's never overmatched in the scenes with Nicholson and it proves to be what makes him very effective in this role. While Nicholson gets to show his creepy nefarious side, he tends to go a little overboard with the character. Damon has gotten to a point where he can take any role and play it well. He's great at playing the two-faced cop here. One thing that is very apparent is that he gets to bring on his native Boston accent ala Good Will Hunting. Nice supporting roles from Alec Baldwin and Martin Sheen as high-rankers in the department. However an actor that I cannot, as hard as I try, take seriously is Mark Wahlberg. He's so over the top in every role and he is here in my opinion.
Scorsese's use of music weaving in and out of scenes at different volumes, something he did well in Goodfellas, comes back in this film. What shines through though is his knack for shooting chaos or violence. All of Scorsese's trademark storytelling techniques come into this one with a vengeance and make very a smooth and entertaining film.