The Departed (2006)

Director: Martin Scorsese
Cast: Matt Damon, Leonardo DiCaprio, Jack Nicholson and Mark Wahlberg

After a long break, Martin Scorsese finally returns to his roots with an intense, violent mob movie, this time set in Boston. Everything comes together beautifully in this movie, from the harsh screenplay to the abrupt, realistic violence. The result is a flawless concoction comprised of everything we mob-movie fans have always dreamed of.
The film boasts a star-studded cast but has no lead actor. The combination of the most sucessful, sought-after up-and-coming stars (Dicaprio and Damon) alongside Jack Nicholson, arguably the greatest actor in American cinema today, makes for a perfect ensemble in which no one steals the spotlight.
Jack Nicholson delivers a freakishly convincing performance as Frank Costello, an Irish-American Mob Kingpin with underground roots all over "Southie." With his scraggly beard, beady eyes, and yellow, chiseled teeth, Nicholson practically makes the character smell bad on-screen. Matt Damon portrays Collin Sullivan, a handsome young law enforcment officer born in Southie but raised by Costello from childhood. Seargent Sullivan has earned everyone's trust in the police department; nobody suspects him as a rat. Leonardo DiCaprio is Billy Costigan, another emotional chararacter born into a family of Irish thugs with thick connections in the mob. However, Billy doesn't fall into this lifestyle; instead he is is bent on breaking free of his roots and doing good in the world. After years of rejection, he finally gets a job with the P.D. His job, ironically, is to use his mob roots to join Costello, earn his trust, and twist his arm into giving up the name of his mole in the P.D.
The plot only gets more interesting from there, twisting and turning its way through a barage of wild ironies and complexities -- all utterly convincing. But I won't be the one to give it away. This movie is adeptly shot with a very modern feel, easily moving back and forth between the realms of action, emotion, and comedy, all brilliantly rolled into an epic two and a half hour feature.
In every scene Scorcese is throwing something crazy at you, whether it's one of Jack Nicholson's ridiculously crude, sarcastic jokes, or a character being eliminated instantly with a swift, unexpected gunshot to the face. The story moves at a rocket pace and after picking your jaw up off the floor after the Hamlet-esque ending, you'll definetly want to watch the whole thing again and notice many more details the second time around.
So, the bottom line is that if you are a Scorsese fan, then you'll thank him for sticking tight to his gritty reputation and delivering the best film in the mob genre, a work that will be a true classic years from now. If you can take the violence and the profanity-soaked script, put this movie at the top of your queue.
-Jack Lewers

Rating---10