Directed by: Martin Scorsese
Premise: Billy Costigan, a Massachusetts state
police officer (Leonardo DiCaprio) goes undercover and infiltrates an organized
crime syndicate run by Frank Costello (Jack Nicholson). At the same time,
Costello has Collin Sulivan, a mole inside of the police force (Matt Damon)
attempt to flush Costigan out of his cover.
What Works: The Departed is an excellent
film. Its cinematography is excellent and the editing, particularly the cross
cutting between scenes, is done very well. The film is a throwback to
Scorsese’s earlier work like Mean
Streets and Raging Bull, but rather than be a step back, Scorsese
has brought his accumulated filmmaking experience with him and puts forth a
project that in many ways exceeds his other work in the gangster genre. William
(Kingdom of
Heaven) Monahan’s screenplay, an adaptation of the screenplay to Infernal
Affairs, has great dialogue and creates situations and relationships
that are above and beyond genre conventions. The performances in The Departed are excellent, especially Jack Nicholson’s role as Costello. Where many
gangster figures come down to imitations of Al Pacino in Scarface or Marlon Brando in The
Godfather, Nicholson’s performance really brings something new to
these types of characters. There is an insanity and instability about Costello
that makes him frightening but these qualities are matched against a paternal
side that also makes him very human and vulnerable. Another noteworthy
performance in the film is Vera Famiga as a police counselor who is caught
between Costigan and Sullivan romantically and ethically. Her performance and
Monahan’s writing for the character rise above what has usually been done with
these types of roles and turns her into a interesting and complex figure in the
film.
What Doesn’t: The roles in the film that are a
bit by the numbers are DiCaprio’s as Costigan and Damon’s role as Sullivan.
While the film does characterize them and creates very interesting situations
for the characters, the performances do not standout like they do for Nicholson
and Famiga. The ending of The Departed is a bit problematic because of
multiple climaxes and the film’s lack of a denouement.
Bottom Line: The excellence of the production and the cast makes The Departed one of Scorsese best pictures, maybe his best since Goodfellas. It does not totally redefine the gangster film but it does make some revisions to the genre and is a very interesting combination of traditional gangster films like Scarface and contemporary urban films like Boys in the Hood. This is one of the best films in the genre in a very long time.