Yes, Its Really THAT Good

Rating: 10/10 (6 October 2006)

I walked into The Departed with pretty high expectations from Scorsese and his cast of all-stars, and walked out with all those expectations fulfilled and more. Scorsese makes his first film in a while that is truly up to par with his classics. Everything about it clicks together perfectly.
The acting is top notch on all fronts. Everyone in the film gives a career defining performance. Jack Nicholson steals every scene he's in, with his best portrayal of a villain since The Shining. If he does not receive at least a nomination for Best Supporting Actor at the Oscars this year, I'll be shocked. Matt Damon and Leonardo DiCaprio also turn in spectacular performances, Leo especially made the character of William Costigan his own, although the both of them tend to overdo the Boston accent a bit (I'm from Mass, and the accent just isn't that prominent). You can really feel a sense of stress and urgency in their voices that does not come off as forced. Whalberg's performance is probably the weakest of the four leads, but that doesn't really mean anything. His job was still rock solid, but just pales next to how well the others took their roles. Alec Baldwin, Martin Sheen, Ray Winstone, and Vera Farming all have well acted supporting roles as well.
The plot, without telling you anything about it that isn't already out there, revolves around the Massachusetts State Police trying to pin down reputed mobster Frank Costello (Nicholson). Costello's character appears to be loosely based real life Boston mobster Whitey Bulger. Each organization has a mole in their ranks, and the bulk of the action comes as they hunt each other down. It really blurs the line between good guy and bad guy. Honestly, I don't think the film had a single legitimate good guy in it. This is a film that you'll want to see repeatedly, you'll pick up new plot details every time. It's a very realistic portrayal of the struggle between the law and organized crime, and a very poignant portrayal of the struggle for identity, motivation and meaning for the soldiers on both sides of that war. Scorsese could have ended the movie at about the 115-minute mark, but chose to go on and wrap up the unresolved conflicts of all of the characters, and that is what separates this from a run of the mill crime drama.
The violence in the film is some of the most realistic I've ever seen. Plenty of gray matter paints the walls during the course of the film. The soundtrack also works very well, centrally using Boston natives the Dropkick Murphy's cover of "I'm Shipping up to Boston" to craft a great city atmosphere at the beginning of the film.
The Departed is the best film I've seen this year. It knocks both V for Vendetta and Little Miss Sunshine out of the tie for the top spot on the list. The The 150+ minute runtime just flies by. It'll grab you by the neck and pull you in to it and hang on for dear live.