Some people felt that The Departed was not Martin Scorsese's best film, myself included. I don't mean to say that this is not a good film, it is. I personally liked the Aviator more than this one but hey, that's not what we're talking about here.
The Departed opens with the introduction of Colin Sullivan, a young man of impressionable age. He's taken under the slimy wing of Frank Costello, an Irish mobster in Southie, Boston. The movie jumps to the police academy where we see Sulivan, who apparently has chosen to enter law enforcement, sort of. We are also introduced to Billy Costigan, another promising cadet, but Costigan has a questionable past. Because of this past (Costigan has family associated with organized crime), he is pulled out of the academy before graduation and convinced to become an undercover agent, intended for infiltrating Frank Costello's gang. After spending a time in prison on a fake assault charge, he has the proper history to make a believable hood. Meanwhile, Sullivan is promoted to the Special Investigations Unit created to take Costello's gang down. SIU has a problem though, it looks like they have a mole in their unit, placed there by Costello. How do they know this? Sullivan is that man and now he has informed Costello that his gang has a mole as well. Both men know they must reveal the other, but they have now idea how to do it.
Just like Infernal Affairs (the Hong Kong original this movie was based on), revealing too much of the plot of The Departed would be a diservice to those who have not seen it. There are a good number of changes between the two, which I will cover later. Some are for the good, while others might be for the worse. But, this is a superb film. It seems to me that there is some dislike for DeCaprio (Billy Costigan) out there but I don't see why. He is always a strong actor and he is very good here. Showing the stress that the life his character is living is convincing. Costigan believes hes a good man and knows he deserves to be living the sort of life that his counterpart (Sullivan) is living. All he wants is to be able to live out in the open, to be real after years of pretending.
As you can expect, Nicolson does a fine job as Frank Costello, mob boss. Over-the-top? The argument could probably be made here, depending on how much you like Nicolson, you might think there's a little overacting going on here. But I didn't mind, he's Jack.
The Departed deserves it's Oscars, if only because Scorsese has been robbed in other years. That idea aside, filled with amazing actors, a great plot (thanks to the writers of Infernal Affairs) and a well chosen soundtrack (a Scorsese staple), put The Departed on your shortlist of movies to see if you haven't already.
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