He's still got it

Rating: 8/10 (5 November 2011)

Billy and Colin graduate from the police academy at the same time, and are both hired by the SIU, a group assembled to take on organized crime. The former goes undercover, to work for the Irish mafia. And the latter... he's an informant for selfsame mob. Duality is the main theme here, and it is explored well(it's no accident that these two leads look so alike). Both are affected by their double lives, and both try to get help by, and subsequently get to liking, cop counselor Madolyn. Nicholson does impeccable, one of his best recent roles. Wahlberg is quite impressive, which is a bit new to me. He also comes off really cool, which goes for, well, all of the main cast. Di Caprio and Damon are fantastic. Sure, the Boston accents are over the top(well, Matt's and a few others... Baldwin appears to think he's portraying a Kennedy), but that's easy enough to look past. The slang is convincing and comes off mostly natural, sprinkled across the sharp, witty and swift dialog. Characters are credible, well-defined and nicely developed(through short, effective scenes that set things up). The pace is tight, and the two hour 25 minute running time is packed. This is directed superbly, and the editing and cinematography are amazing. The tension is thick and built expertly. There is a lot of strong language, bloody, gruesome, gory violence, and a little sexuality in this. The DVD comes with five trailers, one of them for this, the others being for The Painted Veil, The Reaping, 300, Blood Diamond. I recommend this to any fan of Scorsese, crime dramas and/or the actors. 8/10