True Entertainment

Rating: 8/10 (27 March 2007)

Martin Scorsese latest instalment of gripping movie making follows his art at exploring the crime genre in The Departed, a remake of the Hong Kong movie Infernal Affairs. Although most remakes are dismissed, Scorsese and screenwriter William Monahan have re-created the B-grade movie into a hit American epic tragedy. The movie has received four Oscars, this includes Scorsese first 'Best Achievement in Directing', along with a Golden Globe for 'Best Director  Motion Picture' and a 'Best Director' from The Directors Guild of America. The Departed has been described as his "Best picture since Goodfellas" and praised alongside his most celebrated movies, such as Taxi Driver and Raging Bull. The cast is complete with an all-star line up who were awarded 'Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture' by the Screen Actors Guild, includes A-list actors such as Martin Sheen, Mark Wahlberg and Alec Baldwin accepting supporting roles and Leonardo De'Caprio, Matt Damon and Jack Nicholson as leading roles. At the age of 69, it is obvious that with three Oscars and seven Golden Globes under his belt Nicholson, like a fine wine, has enhanced with age (if that's possible). He delivers, as can be expected, an excellent performance, full of colour as bad man, Frank Costello, a psychopathic Irish-American gangster, complete with humour, profanity and hard boiled discourse. Damon and De'Caprio play two members of the Boston police force, both of whom grew up in the Irish-American community and as they join the force their paths begin to merge. De'Caprio gives by far the best performance of his career as Billy Costigan, an academy enrolment from a rough background and family of criminals. Costigan joins the force hoping to become a law abiding state trooper but Captain Queenan (Sheen) and Sgt. Dignam (Wahlberg) have alteria motives for him. Costigan is sent undercover to use his family connections to get close to Costello and inform the police of the gangs movements. Damon's performance as Colin Sullivan should also be praised, Sullivan also joins the force but for different reasons. He's a right-hand man to Costello, to provide inside knowledge to the gang, a binary opposite to Costigan. The film opens with a line that will engage anyone's attention "I don't want to be a product of my environment. I want my environment to be a product of me" and the plot continues to grip the audience. A high-stake battle of cat and mouse begins, Costigan feeding information about Costello's plans back to Queenan, whilst Sullivan counter acts by leaking the cops intelligence back to Costello. Both informers know there are leaks on either side although both are oblivious to the other position. Scorsese delivers a complicated yet intense movie, expanding the crime genre to a new level, apart from Costello's girlfriend Gwen (Kristen Dalton), you will be surprised by the lack of stereotypes apparent in The Departed. In fact Scorsese has stunned us all by using just one character, Madolyn (Vera Farmigan) to play a psychiatrist for the police force, who is both Costigan and Sullivans girlfriends. Although conventions of the genre are apparent such as Irish-Americans gangsters (White Heat) and hard boiled discourse (The Public Enemy), this movie is derivative of the Crime genre, although it is definitely not 'just another crime movie' but a new development.