An actor's extravaganza

Rating: Null/10 (18 November 2006)

With this remake of the Hong Kong actioner "Internal Affairs", Scorsese makes his mark again with a gripping crime saga in the vein of GOODFELLAS (1990) and CASINO (1995). This time he ventures into what must be somewhat less familiar territory for the director, the Irish milieu in South Boston, but screenwriter William Monahan is a Boston native and seems to know his targets inside out.
The cast is to die for, with a line-up of almost exclusively A-list actors. First there is Jack Nicholson as Jeff Costello (a reference to Alain Delon's character in Jean-Pierre Melville's 1967 classic LE SAMOURAI), a psychotic Irish crime boss. Jack Nicholson simply doesn't give bad performances, but here his performance borders on caricature, but somehow he manages to check it in such away, it remains acceptable. Perhaps Scorsese should have toned him down a little, but who can control Jack Nicholson? Who wants to? Perhaps over the top, but hugely entertaining. Perhaps he is the only actor who can get away with this. The rest of the cast is simply outstanding with Leonardo DiCaprio in a very impressive role as Billy Costigan, an undercover cop infiltrating Jeff Costello's gang. Matt Damon as sergeant Sullivan is somewhat more one-note but it seems to fit his role just right. Perhaps he intended it this way. Mark Wahlberg is very amusing as the most twisted, hostile and foul-mouthed cop in recent screen history.
On a credibility level, the film put me to the test a couple of times. Why is Jeff Costello, who runs multi-million dollar drug transports, still collecting protection money in person from Pakistani shop owners? The sub-plot with the delivery of microprocessors to the Chinese for the fabrication of advanced weaponry was truly laughable, especially the encounter between Nicholson and his cronies and a Chinese gang in leather jackets. It looked like a scene from a grade-Z '80s action flick. At times the setting in the film plays more like the '70s, despite the very 2006 cell phones, that play such a crucial role in the film, they almost grow into a character of their own. This must be the film with the most close-ups of cell-phones so far.
In South Boston all little Irish boys seem to grow up as cops or criminals. I am not sure whether this film should be seen as a realistic depiction of the Boston crime world. In the core, it probably is, but it's more a like a mixture of '70s values, clothes and family ties, with some modern elements thrown in the mix. Irish blokes standing in front of a restaurant with their caps and all, I don't know. Somehow, it seems more like a throwback to another age. Or perhaps in some places, like South Boston, things never change. But probably that's the whole point. Scorsese always presents us an over-inflated dreamworld, where in the end every person runs wildly amok. With Scorsese, bad guys are not just bad guys. They are out-of-control monsters, whether it is Jeff Costello in this film or Joe Pesci in GOODFELLAS or CASINO, they all have an almost comic book flair, which doesn't make 'em any less interesting. On the contrary, after all, this IS the movies. The truth is no excuse. Often, the imagination is far more interesting.
I still have to chew a little on this, but this film is quite an overwhelming experience. One of those films, that was already a classic before it came out. Besides some of the aforementioned reservations, these still were a dynamite 149 minutes.
Camera Obscura --- 8/10