04/26/09 - The Departed

The Departed (2006, 151 min)
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0407887/

I haven't seen a Martin Scorsese movie in what seems like forever. As a matter of fact, I would guess (not counting Shine A Light, his Rolling Stones movie/concert/documentary) that the last Scorsese movie I saw was The Departed back in 2007. I'm really not a fan of Scorsese as I think the movies I've seen of his are way too long and not that interesting (see Raging Bull in particular). However, with The Departed, Scorsese does almost everything right.

The Departed is a crime drama set in Boston. It's originally based on the Hong Kong movie Mou gaan dou (Internal Affairs). It's essentially the parallel story of two moles, one working for the crime lord Frank Costello (Jack Nicholson) and one working for the undercover unit led by Captain Oliver Queenan (Martin Sheen). The moles are Staff Sergeant Colin Sullivan (Matt Damon) and Trooper William Costigan (Leonardo DiCaprio) respectively. Rounding out the cast we also have Alec Baldwin as Captain Ellerby (Sullivan's boss) and Vera Farmiga as the psychiatrist Dr. Madolyn Madden.

As you could probably tell from all the people here, this is quite the cast. Every character is important but Costello, Castigan, and Sullivan are the clear-cut stars. The acting is fine, but the story itself seems to be of most importance here. I mean, everyone is convincing in their role, but the acting itself takes backseat to telling a great story.

The most spellbinding part of the movie is without a doubt the last fifteen minutes or so. We get about four deaths in this span with most of them coming as major surprises. When watching this movie for the first time about two years ago I was absolutely stunned in this turn of events. It's definitely something you remember about the movie.

One thing I do love about Scorsese's works is the score. We are treated to some more amazing songs this time around. As per Scorsese's fondness of The Rolling Stones we get an opening shot with Gimme Shelter and later on Let It Loose. A CD is mailed with information on it and this CD is packaged in The Rolling Stones' Exile on Main St. case. The use of Massachusetts's own Dropkick Murphys's I'm Shipping Up to Boston is used in an incredibly appropriate scene and the same can be said of Roger Waters's (with Van Morrison) Comfortably Numb live performance.

Overall, I gave this film a 9/10. This is one of the best movies to come out recently. It's one of the few movies that you want to see again right after it's finished. It's the best Scorsese picture I've ever seen and easily ranks up there with the best crime dramas of all time.