Susan Granger’s review of “The Departed’ (Warner Bros.)
Legendary director Martin Scorsese, a master of the gritty crime drama, has pulled out all the stops in this violent, blood-drenched tale of corruption. With its tangled web of intrigue and paranoia, it’s reminiscent of “GoodFellas” and “Mean Streets.”
At the Massachusetts State Police Department, there are two young recruits, both with roots deep in the Irish-American community. Ambitious Colin Sullivan (Matt Damon) is chosen by the Elite Investigations Unit to help take down the local organized crime ring headed by powerful mob boss Frank Costello (Jack Nicholson). But what the cops don’t realize is that Sullivan’s first loyalty, since childhood, has been to Costello.
In contrast, there’s hot-tempered, street-smart Billy Costigan (Leonardo DiCaprio), who ostensibly gets booted out of the police ranks but is, secretly, sent back onto the rough streets of South Boston to infiltrate Costello’s inner-circle. Both are “moles” who, eventually, find out about one another – but not, ironically, through the risky relationship they share in common: a fondness for a particular police therapist (Vera Farmiga).
Sullivan and Costigan represent two sides of the same dented coin, each man choosing a different, but parallel path on a collision course littered with deception and betrayal.
Inspired by but not a remake of Hong Kong’s “Infernal Affairs,” it’s written with uncompromising film noir flair by William Monahan and wryly humorous input from Scorsese and Nicholson, who is astonishing and mesmerizing as the swaggering incarnation of evil. Nicholson dazzles! Leonardo DiCaprio captures the agony of Costigan’s internal conflict, while Matt Damon gives Sullivan a tough core of intelligence. On the Granger Movie Gauge of 1 to 10, “The Departed” is a tense, terrific 10. But there’s a cautionary note in an unintended subliminal message: don’t join the Massachusetts State Police Dept. if you hope to remain alive!
