Great!

Rating: 8/10 (20 January 2007)

Scorsese is one of my favorite directors, at least he has certainly made a few of my favorite movies. And seeing how he keeps the quality of his work so constantly high is astonishing. And not only that, i would rate this as his finest movie this decade. While i did enjoy "Gangs of New York" and "The Aviator" (both are fine movies in my opinion) this is still a lot closer to the masterpieces of Scorseses previous career.
I have always considered the American way of taking foreign movies and making a new version rather silly. I don't know whether they do it because they can't stand reading subtitles or if there are other reasons. Generally the new versions are also inferior which makes it an even less understandable practice. Here though we have the opposite. While i feel that "Infernal Affairs" is certainly an interesting movie, and a quality film to boot, i still feel that "The Departed" is a vast improvement.
What i was perhaps most impressed by when i watched this movie was the way that Scorsese brought the best out of the entire ensemble. Matt Damon, Leonardo DiCaprio and Mark Wahlberg are far from my favorite actors but they are all as good as i have seen them here. Damon usually has something stiff and almost detached about him that i don't like, but here he seems a lot more relaxed and really flows into his character. Jack Nicholson on the other hand is one of my favorites, and he is absolutely magnificent in "The Departed". He makes one of those appearances where he just dominates every scene that he's in, and unlike many other great actors who have been in the game for a long time, he never seems to relax and turn on the autopilot.
Of course in a thriller the story has to be interesting too, a great ensemble is not enough. And i think that "The Departed" delivers there as well. While it is perhaps maybe 20 minutes longer than i would have liked, it never becomes painfully so. A few twists along the way are also bound to keep most people guessing.
After watching "Gangs of New York" and "The Aviator" i felt afraid that Scorsese might never reach the peaks of his earlier career, and therefore would never receive the Oscar that should have been his a long time ago. But "The Departed" gives me hope since this is yet another memorable and simply great movie. Very recommended! 8/10.