'The Departed" is probably the favorite movie (or at least crime drama) of our generation. I've yet to meet a person around my age who has not loved it. I should say more than "love" even. It's in the all time favorites of many people I know and for good reason... It's brilliant. Martin Scorsese is the king of mob movies and here he moves it all in a whole new direction for a today's generation. The film is paced majestically and is enthralling to the audience. It whole leave the viewers in a drained state. They just saw something masterful. It may not be perfect, but it deserves to be a favorite among many if not everyone.
Two officers fresh out of training look to join the police department of Boston and Massachusetts. One is Billy Costigan (Leonardo DiCaprio in a personal favorite performance of mine), he has a family with a dire past and goes DEEP undercover to infiltrate the mob in this area. He is no longer protected by the police (except by two oficers) and is a criminal in all sense of the law. The other officer is Colin Sullivan (Matt Damon showing off his natural Boston accent) and he is a rat in the police. He deceives the department and is working directly under a godfather figure of the mob, Frank Costello (Jack Nicholson still showing he is one of the all time best actors). The two live lives of deception and lies and at points can't tell which way is up and which is down. Costigan is in the more dangerous situation, he'll die if he makes one bad move. Captain Queenan (Martin Sheen, portraying likable character in the film) and Staff Sgt. Dignam (Mark Wahlberg with a foul mouth that helps to make it one of his all time best performances) are the only ones who know of Costigan's operation and they all but can't help him work out his problems.
What makes this movie so good are the performances and the chase. As you can tell I love the actors in this film. they truly made this a memorable movie. Alec Baldwin, Vera Farmiga, Anthony Anderson, James Badge Dale and last but certainly not least... the heinous Ray Winstone. Then there is the thrill of the chase. It's a cat and mouse sort of movie of the highest proportions. Who will get caught and who will help their organization first, Costigan or Sullivan? The tension is high and Scorsese does a great job of building it up all throughout. However the best element of this chase is the whole natural/realistic presence. The movie takes its times and doesn't try to make things standard. It's got a class and style of all it's own. I wish I knew what to call it, those who have seen it can agree with the previous statement. Scorsese doesn't make second rate movies. He won the Oscar for this and I can see why. Well there was whole "lifetime/body of work" thing he had going for him (he makes a fantastic film in his later years with no previous wins... it's not unheard of to reward him). However he won a constant amount of awards leading up to it. It's some of his best work and may be the best direction of the year (It's close but I still can't make up my mind for that year). He should have won it for "Goodfellas", but of his recent movies... this was his best. William Monahan does wonders with the script. Many may not know that this is a remake of a 2002 Hong Kong film "Internal Affairs" (Andy Lau and the brilliant Tony Leung star in that one). Monahan made an adaption taking a movie based in Hong Kong and moved it to Boston. The guy captured a great sense of the area and truly deserved his Oscar for Adapted Screenplay for this one. "The Departed" is a wonderful movie, and deserves a place in your home, mind and heart.
9/10
Recommendation: Really just watch it, ask your friends cause I'm sure one of them has a copy.
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