The Departed (2006)

Incredibile realism

I could not stop watching this movie and was stunned that it seemed to end so soon. The realism of the gory "shoot-em-up" scenes was astounding! Great story line and the ending was somewhat different than I'd expected. Overall excellent film. August 29, 2008

A long awaited return to form

The Departed is a consistently engaging crime thriller from director Martin Scorsese. It's also the Scorsese film that I've been waiting for since Goodfellas, and I'm sure others feel the same way too. This film is a remake of the Hong Kong film Infernal Affairs, however this review will make no comparisons to that movie. Leonardo Dicaprio and Matt Damon play two moles. Dicaprio plays Billy Costigan, a rookie cop who goes deep undercover to take down mob boss Frank Costello (Jack Nicholson). Matt Damon plays Colin Sullivan, the man working for the state police as Costello's mole. The film also features Mark Wahlberg, Martin Sheen, and Alec Baldwin. Wahlberg gives the best performance of his career and nobody can play the sinister bad guy like Jack Nicholson.

Martin Scorsese is the master of the crime drama, as he as proved time and time again. His previous two films (not counting the Bob Dylan documentary Nor Direction Home) The Aviator and Gangs of New York had their merits, but they were missing something that the classic Scorsese films contained. Aviator was an interesting bio pic. while Gangs was defined by an Oscar worthy performance from Daniel Day Lewis. The Departed however is a return to form. Its main strength lies in the story telling, Throughout the film and especially in relation to the Damon and Dicaprio characters. You don't exactly know who's good or who's bad. It constantly keeps you guessing as any great Drama should. August 20, 2008

The Departed

This is a good movie and it keeps you guessing the entire time. Nothing is as it seems.
I loved it. August 16, 2008

A big-name total bomb

What were the reviewers thinking when they hyped this film? Do they automatically go for anything with Jack Nicholson? The film was contrived, hokey, packed with inexplicable behavior and major plot elements left unanswered. How did DiCaprio find the police shrink? Do all undercover officers use police shrinks to score tranquilizers? Do police shrinks really go on dates with men who spent the prior five minutes angrily yelling at them? Do attractive, young, female psychiatrists really sleep with pill-popping patients who have nearly zero time for a relationship? What happened to the envelope DiCaprio gave her? Regarding Damon's first encounter with the shrink in an elevator, does repeatedly using the F-word in public really work to impress female strangers?

Shouldn't the cops have, like, duh, wondered why a car packed with thugs just happened to show up to kill the cop captain that Damon ordered tailed? At the very least, wouldn't that have been a REALLY good time to take Damon off of his assignment? Would the cops tailing their boss really stay in their vehicle when they knew a gang of thugs had just entered the deserted building he was in? Is the murder of a state police captain so routine in Boston that no action was taken to find the killers? Why did DiCaprio feel that he had to be the one to arrest Damon, with zero backup? Oh, wait, I forgot, he did that so there would be another dramatic confrontation between two big stars.

I was riveted to the TV while watching Goodfellas and Casino; but then, those were dramatizations based on actual events. The Departed, on the other hand, has no bearing on reality at all. August 11, 2008

EXCELLENT!

I just happened to see this movie the night before the Academy Awards. I'm not going to spoil the film for those of you who haven't seen it by revealing the ending but I was blown away by the end. Totally unexpected and just the way a movie should be.

Leonardo DiCaprio is superb here. His growth as an actor is amazing. Jack Nicholson is, well, Jack Nicholson, often reminding me of his role in "The Shining". And Matt Damon "mans up" in a way that will surprise all. Everyone in this flick does a masterful job. However, although the only signigicant female, Vera Farmiga, was out of her league here. If the plan was for her role to be downplayed, it would have worked better if she wasn't even in the movie - no one would have missed her. Again, another part that could just as easily been done as a "phone in". And, while I love Anthony Anderson, he also seems like he just wandered onto the set so Martin Scorsese factored him in.

This is one of the very best movies of all time. I'm glad that Scorsese finally won an Oscar, but it's hard to say if this was his best, with "Goodfellas", "Kings of New York", "The Aviator", and the magnificent "Raging Bull". WOW! Who needs an Oscar with a body of work like that?! Don't worry about statuettes, Marty - keep getting your name on checks!! August 3, 2008

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