What Makes "The Departed" Great.

In the 70s, it was "Taxi Driver", In the 80s, it was "Raging Bull", in the 90s, it was "Goodfellas", and in the 2000s, Scorsese's mark on cinema was "The Departed", which won him a long overdue Oscar.

The film (which is actually a remake of Hong Kong film "Internal Affairs") takes place in modern day Boston and follows the war between Boston law enforcement and the Irish Mob lead by "Frank Costello" (Jack Nicholson). Costello grooms one of his proteges "Colin Sullivan" (Matt Damon) into becoming his personal inside man in the Massachusetts State Police. However, at the same time, the police enlist their own undercover agent in Billy Costigan (Leonardo DiCaprio) because of his families ties to organized crime. The film then follows each character as they infiltrate their respective organizations and attempt to tip off their true allegiances of what's going on. Eventually, both realize the presence of each other in their respective units and attempt to find out who each other are before they are found out and possibly killed.

The Departed is an interesting Scorsese film, it has the theme of violence, gangsters, and downfalls, but there are elements in this film that a very unique to see on a Scorsese film. It has several elements that make it feel more like a Hitchcock film with the themes of false identities and the double. The scene where the Costigan chasses Sullivan through Chinatown in an attempt to figure out who he is also a scene that feels very Hitchcock, with intense buildup and pace, the scene also makes great use of the lighting with the city lights illuminating the sequence with the charters being illuminated by the different colors of the night lights and the rising smoke from the ground. The masterful editing by longtime Scorsese calibrator "Thelma Schoonmaker" also help make this scene one of the best in the movie. The screenplay by Boston native "William Monahan" does a great job of playing with the themes of identity. Both seem to get so entangled in their organizations there infiltrating that it is hard to remember sometimes that they are both a cop and a criminal respectively. One of the first lines in the movie sums the idea up perfectly with Costello saying to a young Sullivan "When I was your age, they would say you could be cops or criminals; today what I'm saying to you is this: when you're facing a loaded gun, what's the difference?". The use of the cellphones (which are strange to see in a Scorsese picture) seems to act as their only real connection to who they truly are. The use of cellphones also takes a center in another great scene where Sullivan uses the phone of Costigan's now dead man whom Costigan communicated his information to in order to contact "The Rat". Both are completely silent as the call is made, but we can tell what's going through their minds at that moment.

Scorsese balances the two worlds of the mob and the police perfectly. Each side is given as much screen time as the other. The cuts between both these worlds also feel very natural. It helps keep us engaged with the action as we see both sides operate and unfold on the same thing. Whether it is when the cops are watching through their rat the mob's deal with the Chinese, or the shootout at a drug deal near the end as all the pieces come together for the cops, and everything falls apart for the mob.

The ensemble is nothing short of great. Both Damon and DiCaprio give great performances as our protagonists. DiCaprio, in particular, stands out as he becomes more paranoid about being found out, and begins to wonder what he got into. Damon plays a great smart ass in this movie. He gives off this charming and straight as an arrow persona, which gives off the impression that he believes that no one would suspect him of being the rat. The supporting roles are all great as well. Nicholson gives probably his last great performance as mob boss Frank Costello. He acts less like a crime boss and more like a cartoon character at times. It's aspects like that as well as the great facial expressions that only he can pull off. He is also often times as funny as he is menacing, the scene that really shows this is when they are negotiating with the Chinese gangsters during a trade where he refers to the Chinese gang members as "Bruce Lee and the Karate Kids", and ends with saying " No Ticky, No laundry". The actor who steals the show is Mark Wahlberg as the short-tempered "Sgt. Dignam". He plays him as a man who is not here to make friends, just stop crime. In fact, he acts as though he is deliberately trying to get under everyone's skin and be the most unlikable guy in the unit. Every response he gives to his fellow cops has a sort of insulting and "Fuck Off' feel to it. When asked about whether the police as someone undercover in the mob, he simply responds "Maybe.....Maybe not.........Maybe fuck yourself". Or when someone asks who he is, he responds "I'm the guy who does his job, you must be the other guy".

The Departed has earned its place as one of Scorsese's very best films, as well as one of the best films in the past 15 years or so. Much like Goodfellas, it is a film I can watch over and over again.