Decent convoluted mob movie

Rating: 7/10 (3 August 2007)

Parents send your kids elsewhere; we are here to talk about, "The Departed," the Academy Award winning movie directed by none other than the great Martin Scorsese. I won't spend a lot of time explaining the movie because it will take longer than actually watching the movie itself.
But it involves DiCaprio's character graduating from the Massachusetts Police Academy and becoming the Boston Police Department's, "mole" in investigating the Irish mob, run by Nicholsan. While at the same time Nicholsan sends Damon through the Police Academy to become his informant in the Boston Police Department. Things escalate when both Damon and DiCaprio become aware of each others presence and are ordered to uncover the other one's identity. Don't be fooled this is one movie that is VERY hard to follow if you are not paying immense attention. It is filled with double-crosses, triple-crosses, and I think there was a quadruple-cross at one point.
It's filled with big named celebrities that you are well acquainted with. And there talents are well used. The story on the other hand seems rushed at times and appears it would have benefited more had it been spread out on two movies as opposed to cramming it all on one. But the thing that's confusing is that Mark Wahlberg was nominated for an Oscar, but he's only in about five scenes and isn't even the main focus, his character is completely forgettable up till the very end.
And as far as how this movie wraps up, pretty much, everyone dies. Yep, be careful not to blink or else you'll miss someone getting killed. At the end I looked to my friend and asked, "Did they just kill-off the entire cast in five minutes?"
Despite these pitfalls, the movie is still solid, it's directed wonderfully, and Scorsese deserves his Oscar. The acting is top notch, and the atmosphere and the characters and the story (as long as you are paying attention) keeps you until the very end. And the "F-word" is used 237 times, how cool is that? I just wished the movie didn't leave me wanting more. And even though the movie did very well and won many awards, it won't be on the minds of people for very long.
So I give The Departed a 3 out of 5.