MOVIE REVIEW: The Departed-2006Colin Sullivan (Matt Damon) was looked after by Irish crime lord Frank Costello (Jack Nicholson) from a very young age. To show his appreciation for Frank's care, Colin becomes a high-ranking police officer to ensure that Frank and his cronies are one-up on the police. Meanwhile police academy cadet Billy Costigan (Leonardo DiCaprio) is summoned by Commisioner Queenan (Martin Sheen) and his subordinate Dignam (Mark Wahlberg) to go undercover as a flunkie for Costello to infiltrate his operation. He must first commit a crime and spend time in prison for "street cred". He obliges and after release, he is recruited into Frank's organization. Both men are conflicted over their involvement with Costello and his crew. Colin's personal life begins to suffer and he becomes neglectful to his police psychologist girlfriend. Meanwhile Billy is agonizing over his role in the dastardly acts that ruthless Costello assigns to him. Billy is so distraught that he turns to a police psychologist for help. Both Billy and Colin come to the realization that there is a leak within both the police force and Frank's crime organization but neither can pinpoint the source. Will Billy sleep with the fishes at the hands of Frank and his gang or will Colin become someone's prison bitch after it is discovered that he's a rat? No more spoilers from me y'all!
By now everyone knows that The Departed won the Best Picture Oscar. I can honestly say rightfully so. This was truly a work of art. Scorsese has outdone himself with this picture. The film is gritty, realistic and raw. I did not feel like I was watching something that was cranked out by the Hollyweird machine, the film had an Indie quality to it. I generally am no fan of wee wunderkind Mr. DiCaprio but I was greatly impressed by him in The De-PAH-ted (that's my exaggerated Boston accent lol). He did a superb job and he looked and acted like an adult instead of a child playing dress-up. Jack Nicholson is always magnificent but a little over the top in this role, I found myself laughing when I should have been terrified. You could tell he was having a ball playing this role and that's not a bad thing. Ditto for Mark Wahlberg, his role was over the top but in a good way as well. Matt Damon has the most low-key role because his character required him to stay cool under pressure and he did a great job delivering the goods. I usually stay away from ensemble cast pictures because each well-known actor struggles for screen time but I am glad I took the plunge to see this. Ultra-violent and loaded with foul language...if you've ever seen a Scorsese film (Goodfella's anyone?) then you know these are his calling cards and he doesn't shy away from it here either. I highly recommend this film, please rent this if you love gritty crime thrillers. This strictly for the grown and sexy so put the rugrats to bed before watching.
VERDICT: 4 Soul Claps (indeed)
Labels: Movie Reviews
This entry was posted
on Monday, February 26, 2007 at 7:34 AM.
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