Oct. 26, 2006

‘The Departed’ has Academy Award written all over it

BY JEREMY KOPP
koppj@marietta.edu

THE DEPARTED

Directed by
Martin Scorsese

Starring
Leonardo DiCaprio - Billy Costigan
Matt Damon - Colin Sullivan
Jack Nicholson - Frank Costello
Mark Wahlberg - Dignam
Martin Sheen - Oliver Queenan

MPAA: Rated R for strong brutal
violence, pervasive language,
some strong sexual content and
drug material.

Runtime: 152 min

Martin Scorsese returns to form with The Departed, a cop/gangster drama fueled with testosterone, drenched in gore, and riddled with colorful curse words. But this isn't some junky, violent, B-movie-throwaway; this remake of the 2002 Chinese film 'Internal Fairs' involves an intricate, brilliantly crafted story, explores issues like morality and how men make an identity for themselves, and showcases Oscar-worthy performances.

Leonardo DiCarprio is Billy Costigan, who joins the Boston state police because he wants to escape his criminal past. The headstrong Captain Queenan (Martin Sheen) and his hotheaded right-hand-man, Sgt. Dignam (Mark Wahlberg) feel that Costigan's history provides the perfect opportunity for undercover work, allowing him to buddy-up with Frank Costello (Jack Nicholson), Boston's biggest crime boss.

On the other side is Colin Sullivan (Matt Damon), who ran errands for Costello as a young boy, hand-picked by Costello so he could eventually join the police force and become the ultimate mole. Sullivan fasttracks his way to the top of the department and is assigned to a unit tracking Costello, allowing him to keep Costello one-step ahead of Boston's finest.

Costigan and Sullivan are unaware of who each other are given the top-secret nature of their assignments, but in only a year's time are both Costello and the police aware that there are rats in their ranks.

Although far-fetched, this story is executed at the hands of a talented director who can craft crime dramas like none other (see Goodfellas and Casino). The last 20 minutes of the film is entirely over-the-top as it ties up loose ends while racking up the body count, but given the film's context, is completely acceptable and, even more importantly, entertaining.

Which brings me to Nicholson, the most over-the-top and entertaining element of the film. He plays Costello as overly charismatic and just plain insane. He sings Irish jigs with an exaggerated accent, imitates a rodent's hiss while interrogating a potential rat, and whips out a sex today in porno theatre while meeting an informant just for kicks and giggles. In a world full of vile, evil sociopaths' looking to get ahead, Nicholson’s character stands out as the biggest badass in the room. He's one of the more memorable movie characters I've seen in some time.

DiCaprio and Damon do an equally fine job in their roles, wrestling with moral ambiguity as Costigan is sucked deeper into a world of crime where he has to do some pretty bad things to see that the right thing is done while Sullivan finds himself preferring the life of a cop over that of a criminal's at times. The editing is constantly switching between the two characters so we can compare and contrast their situations, another great decision on Scorsese's part.

But then, I could go on and on, there's just not enough room on this page. Trust me, if you can stomach the violence and vulgarity, you'll want to see this movie. It's funny, shocking, intelligent and engaging, and is the best time I've had at the theaters all year.