Not quite as good as Scorsese's finest such as; "Goodfellas" and "Taxi Driver", but it comes damn close

Rating: 10/10 (27 November 2008)

"The Departed" was the first Scorsese film I ever saw and I loved every minute of it. "The Departed" is not quite as good as Scorsese's finest such as; "Goodfellas" and "Taxi Driver", but it comes damn close and more than deserved the best picture of 2006. Out of all the Scorsese films I have had the pleasure of seeing; this one has the "most plot". Where as "gangs of New York" focused on changing relationships between characters and "Taxi Driver" with the crashing mind of a mentally unstable man, "The Departed" focuses primarily on the police force attempting to take down a local mobster Costello (Jack Nicholson). Both opposing factions attempt to out smart the other by using rats or moles. One of Costello's crew Colin (Mat Damon) is sent into the police force in order to assist Costello, to attempt to eliminate the threat of him being incarcerated. At the same time a special branch of the police force consisting of Mark Wahlberg as Dignam and Martin Sheen as Queenan, persuade a recruit (due to his background with the Irish Mafia); into "joining" Costellos crew and rating him out. Tension builds between the two opposing forces and police and mobsters alike meet their brutal ends, as the two "rats" attempt to find each other out.
"The Departed" has all the elements off a classic- the most apparent being a great cast. Scorsese lines up Jack Nicholson, Mat Damon, Leonardo DiCaprio, Alec Baldwin, Mark Wahlberg and Martin Sheen and chucks them in a mob movie, and every single one of them gives a damned good performance, perhaps the must surprising being Wahlberg's. Now Wahlberg hasn't exactly given brilliant performances throughout this career as an actor but his performance of the antisocial cop Dignam really stands out in the film. Wahlberg claims he based his performance off police who arrested him as a child, and hence he is able to portray a believable character with emotions and who never appears to be the good guy, or the bad guy. Instead Wahlberg floats between the two, despite his good intentions he at times, (particularly when he first meets William) seems quite unpleasant and rude. His interactions that occur with William later in the film seem to generate drama and conflict between the police force, which creates a rather interesting diversion from cops Vs mobsters. At least twice in the film Dignam cracks it at two police officers (William and Colin) and attacks them. His emotions leading up to the attacks are rather intriguing, Wahlberg doesn't overact at all instead he responds to the situation how everyday people would.
Despite displaying an excellent performance I personally felt the best performance belonged to DiCaprio. I was absolutely mesmerised seeing DiCaprio's character (William) attitude towards being a rat change. At first he was not very reluctant and willing to hang around mobsters, but towards the end he became scared for his very life. This pivotal change in his mental status result him attempting a variety of methods, to convince Costello that he is not a rat. All of his attempts are rather intriguing to watch as viewers have no idea whether Costello will fall for the ploy, or simply kill him. This unpredictability actively engages the audience into the movie, and ultimately they become quite surprised at the outcome.
The structure of the plot is also another standout point of the picture. Despite cramming a complex plot licked to smaller subplots, Scorsese somehow avoids the film seeming too slow. Every seen serves a purpose; some of the scenes advance the plot where as others such as conversations between characters allow for aspects of someone's personality to be shown. For example towards the end of the film; Costello becomes increasingly paranoid of being arrested by the police and several scenes indicate his paranoia. Perhaps the rather interesting structure of the plot was assisted by the editing. Now a few people criticise the editing in the film, the films editing occurs suddenly as to waste no time (due to the need to contain a lot in the film). If a conversation of a meeting for example serves no purpose in regards to plot or characters it ends; and we enter another scene which builds up tension or plot. Now this also achieves in making the movie seem to have a smaller runtime, than it actually does. Instead of looking at your watch (as even the best of us do in a long movie) you will be glued to the screen. And really you should, there is so much in this movie even a bathroom break could ruin the experience- so keep that in mind watching the film.
Overall "The Departed" is a modern masterpiece and definitely ranks amongst Scorsese's best films. "The Departed" is not as good as "Goodfellas" and "Taxi Driver" in my opinion for one reason; and that is "The Departed" does lack involvement of characters other than the leads. This is quite a minor flaw but it does make the film seem less intelligent as Scorsese's other classics, but still most people will overlook this and enjoy every minute of the film. "The Departed" receives an 8.8/10 for me and more than deserved best picture of 2006. Additionally a warning to some people, like most of Scorsese's films there is a quite a bit of violence in the film, mainly in the form of gunshot murders. So keep that in mind for anyone below 14 (and besides anyone below 14 would struggle to understand all aspects of the film).