Scorcese is Back at It

Rating: 8/10 (6 November 2006)

The Departed marks Martin Scorcese's return to more-familiar territory after forays into period pictures. This film does not rank with his very best work but easily is among the best films of 2006. Leo DiCaprio, Mark Wahlberg, Martin Sheen and Alec Baldwin turn in fine performances; Matt Damon does a good job essentially playing a variation of the same character he played in Syriana, only bigger and broader here. Scorcese almost but not quite reins in Jack Nicholson; perhaps if DeNiro had played Frank Costello as originally planned, the film would have gained at least another star from me. My main objections to the movie are its sloppiness (see the Continuity page for many, many examples) and lack of authenticity. Despite the location settings, it was really shot primarily in New York and that takes away from its efforts to depict the Boston cops and crime scene. Mystic River did a much more accurate job of that. And still, it's nice to have Scorcese back making a picture where his talents can really shine through -- humor, gore, profanity. and moments of real emotion.