A mob film at its best

Rating: 10/10 (19 May 2007)

Hollywood has welcomed several great directors. And,out of all those great directors,one of them happens to be,by far,Martin Scorsese. Despite the fact that Martin Scorsese does not have the versatility of Ron Howard and has not won Oscars the way that Steven Spielberg has,Scorsese's intelligence with crime drama films has brought Hollywood several great films of that genre. So,how does the most recent Martin Scorsese film,"The Departed",measure up? Read on for my review of this:
Based in Boston,"The Departed" is based around several different characters. It is best to begin my review of "The Departed" with a depiction of Leonardo DiCaprio's character in the film,Billy Costigan. Billy Costigan,a young man who has had a rough life,decides to make a change. That change is by Billy Costigan re-entering the Boston Police Department,and being given a good job as a police officer. That job? Posing as a criminal and going undercover into a Boston mob that is run by a dangerous mob boss by the name of Frank Costello (Jack Nicholson). While Billy Costigan is able to do well with the job that he has been assigned,will Costigan be able to successfully bring Frank Costello down,with Costello being so hard to catch and a deadly secret existing within the Boston Police Department? The only things that will tell are time,decisions,and intelligence.
Let's talk about "The Departed". Not only does it work excellent as a crime drama film,it successfully blends two stories (the story of the good characters in "The Departed",and the story of the bad characters in "The Departed")into one entire film. Yes,this may be hard to do,but Martin Scorsese makes it appear to be a piece of cake and does a richly executed job with it. The script for "The Departed" is very well-written,and brings this film's plot to life with twists,turns,and surprises along the way. Sure,"The Departed" is hard to follow throughout some of it,while it is a very long film (close to the amount of time that "JFK" and "The Good Shepherd" were). Yet,"The Departed" being hard to follow and being as long as it is is not the film's script losing itself. It is the film being headed in the right direction that it needs to be headed in,and being well understood by its director. And,with all of that,alongside the powerful performances that are to be found in "The Departed" and the great cast that "The Departed" holds (DiCaprio,Nicholson,Matt Damon,Mark Wahlberg,Martin Sheen,and Alec Baldwin),"The Departed" comes together as one of the most brilliant films ever made. Whether you are a fan of crime drama films or happen to be just a film buff,"The Departed" is one film that you do not want to miss out on.
10/10