Entertaining Gangster Movie

Rating: 8/10 (25 March 2007)

If you like Scorsese you will definitely enjoy this movie. For those like me who are less convinced of his genius, it is still an entertaining gangster movie. Many critics voted this as the best movie made in 2006. The film is well-made but I have always failed to understand his Scorsese's films are so loved by critics. I know cops and I've worked with the Russian mob and the characters in Scorsese's movies have always seemed phony to me.
Colin Sullivan (Matt Damon) and William Costigan (Leonardo DiCaprio) are Boston police officers. Costigan agrees to go undercover to catch local crime boss Frank Costello (Jack Nicholson). Costello runs a protection racket and sells drugs. Some of Costigan's family members have a background in crime, so he is accepted into the gang. Sullivan has known Costello since childhood and becomes his mole in the police department. Costello's tips allow Sullivan achieve accelerated promotion and become the superstar of the police department. Damon and DiCaprio spend most of the film trying to unmask each other. They also become involved with the same woman (Vera Farmiga), a therapist.
In Scorsese's world everyone men are macho sociopaths. There is plenty of high decibel screaming and swearing. His characters don't mind killing and torturing and violence is just another form of communication. Women are either whores or mothers or like Vera Farmiga's character they act like both. The cops and villains seem interchangeable. In fact half the thugs seem to be working for some government agency. Police Captain Oliver Queenan (Martin Sheen) seems to be the only normal guy in the movie. The police behavior is occasionally so extreme that the movie loses credibility. Sullivan's boss, Alec Baldwin, beats up a police technician because he makes a mistake. Sergeant Digham (Mark Wahlberg)abuses everyone and gets into fisticuffs with both Damon and DiCaprio who are supposed to be on his side.
Sullivan seems to be in it for the money, but none of his colleagues questions how a police officer in his twenties can afford to live in a large expensive apartment in the Beacon Hill area of Boston. It's not clear why DiCaprio, with a 1400 SAT score, would agree to go undercover and mix with psychos for an indefinite period. The movie has a cast of superstars, but Damon and DiCaprio both seem a little too familiar and congenial to be believable tough guys. Nicholson looked as if he had wandered in from a romantic comedy. He seemed too old and lacked the menace the part demanded. DiCaprio gives a one note performance as a grim, angry man. That said, if you like crime dramas you will be entertained. There is plenty of action and the actors ham it up to attract your attention.