The Departed

Having seen the Hong Kong original and being a big fan of Martin Scorsese’s mobster flicks I was doubly anxious to see The Departed. Really, Nicholson, Damon, Wahlberg, DiCaprio, Sheen the Elder, Ray Winstone, even Alec Baldwin slammed together in a devious cops v. robbers matchup, going back to what Scorsese does best. Frankly I never did get Gangs of New York or The Aviator.

Nicholson’s Frank Costello has been running all or a big part of the Irish mob for years and somehow never gotten pinched by the cops, at least in part because he tends to think for the longterm. As an example, he recruits Colin Sullivan (Matt Damon) in his early teens, sends him to the Massachuessetts State Police academy and helps him rise rapidly into a position of authority in the Special Investigations Unit.

Leonardo DiCaprio’s William Costigan Jr. also attended the academy, attempting to reject the life trajectory set by the men in his family, of whom only his father had been honest. Yet Captain Queenan (Sheen) and Sgt. Dignam (Wahlberg, whose foul vocabulary is the antithesis of his angelic face) don’t see that Costigan can evade his fate and so they ask him to go deep undercover. To proof his cover he’s arrested, kicked off the force and spends three months in jail on an assault beef. On release he does everything necessary to get noticed by Costello and get into his crew.

So starts the final conflict that drives The Departed to its climax. Costello finds out he has a rat and Queenan and Captain Ellerby (Baldwin) find out they have a mole, but neither side knows their informer’s identity. Costigan and Sullivan soon understand they’re in a race to find the other first, the winner’s prize is to live.

One thing that Martin Scorsese does very well in his films is ensure the plots and dialog are authentic, logical and consistent. Some movies which may otherwise be enjoyable fall apart for me by leaving gaping unexplained logical flaws or ask us to believe a smart, successful character hasn’t noticed something which is as visible to him or her as to the audience, but Scorsese doesn’t make this mistake.

For the most part the acting here is strong though as usual DiCaprio doesn’t do it for me. Here he’s over the top with anxiety, never seeming more than a few sharp words away from tears, and while his character is certainly in a high stress situation its the one performance that doesn’t ring true; I find it difficult to believe that Nicholson’s mobster, a masterful judge of character, doesn’t take one good look at his face and smell something fishy.

I don’t usually mention the soundtracks of (non-musical) films but the selection here is really special. The standout is Van Morrison’s live version of Pink Floyd’s Comfortably Number, taken from The Wall: Live In Berlin concert, which the Irishman makes all his own, and, perhaps as a touchstone to the director’s similarly-energied GoodFellas, the Rolling Stones’ Gimme Shelter.

recommended