"It's a nation of f*****g rats"

Rating: 8/10 (19 July 2013)

The thing I remember the most from seeing The Departed the first time is that I had rented it with my parents, and there was something wrong with the DVD so it kept freezing at the scene in which Jack Nicholson whips out a dildo at the adult movie theater, which I found both harrowing and amusing since I imagined that someone had played that scene over and over until the DVD got scratched or something. We must have watched that rubber penis ten times trying to get past that mark. I mention this because it says something both about my complicated relationship to my parents and sex, and about the slight forgettability of the rest of the film.
Still, the fact that the film pales a bit alongside Scorsese's other great gangster films does not make it bad, in fact it is a solid piece of work. The Departed eschews some of the lavish style of movies like Goodfellas and Casino, possibly because the source demands a somewhat grittier presentation, by, aside from a couple of neon glowing scenes and a weirdly gratuitous cocaine orgy scene, keeping the visual excess to a minimum and playing the soundtrack rather safe with things like Pink Floyd and The Rolling Stones – Gimme Shelter is played at least twice, but I gotta admit, it's the perfect song to make a badass entrance to.
However, the plot, about a policeman infiltrating the mob while a mob guy is infiltrating the police, is brilliantly constructed, especially during the latter half where Scorsese turns the tension of who will be exposed first up to eleven. The fact that both camps are full of "good guys" and "bad guys" helps blur the line between the two, which is a recurring theme in the dialogue. There's an inherent growing sense of distrust and paranoia in the central conflict that the film could probably squeeze more out of, but DiCaprio conveys it quite well in his emotionally troubled undercover cop. The suspense reaches its height during two excellent scenes; first, an intense alley chase, and second, an equally intense phone call between the two infiltrators. The only thing that doesn't really work with them is the somewhat contrived subplot in which they both sleep with the same woman. It would be unfair to single out The Departed among the host of gangster films but it's like it didn't even show up for the Bechdel test.
I have to revise my opinion about the violent two-part climax which I previously thought had an air of silliness to it, as it actually plays quite perfectly into the whole blurred distinction between good and evil. There's something ironic? fateful? nihilistic? about it and it reminded me of those old French heist movies like Rififi and Le doulos. The departed, good or bad, handsome or ugly, rich or poor, are all equal now.