Much like Fox's Prison Break, or 24, the premise behind Martin Scorsese's new film, The Departed, is obviously ludicrous. In the Boston area, a mobster puts a kid through school so he can have a plant inside the Police Department, all the while the police plant a young man inside said mobster's gang. The headspinning premise is actually a remake of an Asian movie called Infernal Affairs, which I have not seen, but previous knowledge of that movie doesn't make this one any less enjoyable.
The Departed is one of those all-star casts that we rarely get to see in movies anymore, and with an excellent script by William Monahan and under the hand of director Scorsese, everyone really rises to the top of their game. Of course the three big guns in the movie are Jack Nicholson, Leonardo DiCaprio and the delicious Matt Damon. All three do exemplary work here, but the cast is rounded out with people like Ray Winstone, Mark Wahlberg, Martin Sheen and Alec Baldwin. Frankly it's amazing to me how much these people bring to the table. Alec Baldwin and Mark Wahlberg are particularly delightful, both somehow managing to coax some wicked funny lines from an otherwise serious movie.
Another source for a lot of the films lighter moments come from the deranged performance of Jack Nicholson. Nicholson's Irish mobster is quite the scene chewer, but at the start of the film he underplays the role. It's not until the movie becomes more outlandish that Nicholson get's into full Joker mode. Personally, I have never really understood the appeal of the actor. Yes, I am too young to have seen Five Easy Pieces or One Who Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, but I always have to ask this of legacy actors like Nicholson. What have they done for me lately? Anger Management? Right. So his performance here comes as somewhat of a surprise to me. Nicholson walks a fine line between being fatherly and severe, between sexy and grotesque. And as his paranoia mounts, we seem him lose it, but in a way that is plausible within the framework of the narrative.
DiCaprio and Damon play an interesting pair. The cat and mouse game between the two of them is the heart of the movie, and audiencs won't be disappointed. The inverted nature of their characters makes for some interesting drama. DiCaprio is from an upper class background, but has plenty of experience playing as a southie, while Damon is a southie thrust into the world of the police where he rises to the top. Damon is really one of the finest young actors we have today, and part of the reason is that he seems to get lost in his roles. Here, his character seems fully fleshed and real. Someone you would encounter at a golf club, or bump into while christmas shopping. His character oozes with menacing confidence, but he still seems like the kind of guy who would have you over for dinner than throw you through a plate glass window. DiCaprio on the other hand is all deep, underseated rage. Not only at the hard luck life he has lived, but also recognizing that his time in the police department academy has been wasted and now, hidden from the world, and deeply undercover, he sees himself cut off from a more peaceful world.
So you are probably wondering about Scorsese right? Well I am too. The one chink I can find in this movies armor is that for all of Scorsese's talent, you don't really see it much here. That's not a criticism mind you. There are certain hallmarks of a Scorsese movie. Talented actors, punctuated violence, wild direction. The first two we have in force, but I suspect Scorsese dialed back his more artistic flourishes because the movie was enough of a worldwind as it stands. In fact, this is probably Scorsese's most mainstream movie he's ever made, and it is exceptional.
The movie twists and turns until it's ultimate downer ending, but the ride to get there is filled with suspense, violence and characters the audience will loath and admire. It's not often that movie goers get such a well crafted treat this early in the Fall, so I really recommend you get out and see it.
