The Departed

Year: 2006
Running time: 151 minutes
Certificate: 18
Language: English
Screenplay: William Monahan
Director: Martin Scorsese
Starring: Leonardo DiCaprio, Matt Damon, Jack Nicholson, Mark Wahlberg, Martin Sheen, Ray Winstone

Dave.

The cop who's a mole.

This may well be a first in the history of film - a Hollywood remake that holds its own against the foreign language original it's remaking. In fact, I might go so far as to say The Departed could probably be considered to be better than the outstanding Infernal Affairs. All it took was the pairing up of legends Martin Scorsese and Jack Nicholson (another film first, fact fans). Billy Costigan (DeCap) is a cop undercover in the mafia, led by head gangster Frank Costello (Nicholson). In a beautifully contrived juxtaposition, Colin Sullivan (Matt Damon) is a member of Frank's gang planted as a mole in the police force. It's one of those perfect set ups that simply requires you to light the blue touch paper and stand well back as the tension increases. Both the cops and the mafia get wise to the fact they've been infiltrated and set Billy the task of uncovering the criminal mole and Colin the task of finding the undercover cop. As you might imagine, it can't end well for anyone, and the escalating body count during the explosive conclusion is inevitable.

It won Scorsese his long sought-after Oscar (about damn time, you useless bunch of Academy shits), but as good as it is, it's certainly no Goodfellas, although it can definitely measure up against Casino. Let's face it, nothing's ever gonna be Goodfellas except Goodfellas and Scorsese almost at the top of his game is better than almost any other director out there.

The mole who's a cop.

The supporting cast are uniformly without crapness, with Martin Sheen, Ray Winstone and others putting in top performances. Hell, even Mark Walhberg is not only passable, but his foul-mouthed outbursts are a highlight. The two leads also do well - Billy trying not to crack under the pressure and desperate to get out and Colin wishing he could switch sides and not be working for Frank make for some of the most engaging scenes. As Scorsese's new muse, DeCap gets the biggest role and doesn't let the ball drop once - in the right role he is truly one of his generation's finest actors. However, none of that really matters, because it's big Jack who steals the show, just as one might expect. His mob boss is utterly without conscience, berating corpses for falling funny when he murders them, but he has a Nicholsonish bent to him that makes him great to watch, evilness notwithstanding. They increased the size of the mob boss role substantially compared to Infernal Affairs, and with big Jack in the role, it's one of the wisest things they could have done.

One of many great pieces of work from the master director, The Departed looks incredible, sounds fantastic (Gimme Shelter is the perfect song for the intro), and it moves with such pace before you know it two and a half hours have gone by and you're watching all hell break loose at the finale.

Score: 8/10

Rachel.

This is not for the faint-hearted, but extremely entertaining. It's fast-paced and violent with a brilliant soundtrack and sharp wit. Lots of great characters well-acted and, like Dave, Jack Nicholson was my favourite. Just to warn you though - look out for the shock-factor ending. Highly recommended.

Score: 7/10

Roger Ebert is a bigger fan even than me, while Josh at Cinemablend likes it except for the ending.