The Departed (Widescreen Edition)

Buy This Item The Departed (Widescreen Edition) by Warner Home Video  Available from Amazon  $13.99  on 8-28-2008     Leonardo DiCaprio, Matt Damon, Jack Nicholson and Mark Wahlberg star in Martin Scorsese's new crime drama "The Departed." "The Departed" is set in South Boston where the state police force is waging an all-out war to take down the city's top organized crime ring. The key is to end the reign of powerful mob boss Frank Costello (Jack Nicholson) from the inside. A young rookie, Billy Costigan (Leonardo DiCaprio) is assigned to infiltrate Costello's mob. While Billy is working to gain Costello's trust, another young cop, Colin Sullivan (Matt Damon) is among a handful of elite officers whose mission is to bring Costello down. But what his superiors don't know is that Colin is working for Costello, keeping the crimeboss one step ahead of the police. Each man becomes deeply consumed by his double life, gathering information about the plans and counter-plans of the operation he has penetrated. But when it becomes clear to both the gangsters and the police that they have a mole in their midst, Billy and Colin find themselves in constant danger of being caught-and each must race to uncover the identity of the other man in time to save himself. Reader Reviews This was definitely one of the most gripping and well-crafted cop/crime thrillers I've seen in years---easily on par with the now-classic "The Usual Suspects" though quite a bit darker in tone. Certainly one of Scorsese's best films in a long time, though a lot of the soundtrack seems very, very familiar if you've ever watched "Goodfellas." Sidenote: why in God's name they chose a terrible, awful remake of the Pink Floyd classic "Comfortably Numb" instead of simply using the studio original eludes me. This remake features Van Morrison (argh! this is just NOT his natural style or genre) and Roger Waters (who doesn't sound much like himself at all) and just sounds totally cheesy and weak. Other than that, my only other quibbles about this film are with a couple of rather implausible plot twists during the final 10 minutes, and a somewhat Tarantino-esque (think "Reservoir Dogs") ending. All very minor quibbles, indeed. The script, by William Monahan, is flat-out perfect, as are all of the ensemble cast's performances, and when combined with Scorsese's trademark brisk pacing and snappy transitions, makes for a film which had me totally absorbed from the opening credits. Stark contrast to how most films have a clearly defined "setup" first third which is kind of slow, then builds into a big second act where the conflict is played out, and slows again into a short third act plot resolution. "The Departed" is just a hyperkinetic, grab-you-by-the-a$$ movie from the get-go all the way to the closing credits. A big part of its genius, and the reason it's a movie that you can watch over and over again, is that the characters are quite rich and mostly opaque, rather than being easily identifiable, focus-grouped stereotypes as in most mainstream Hollywood films these days. Also, the dialogue is just stunningly well-written. There's a lot of detail that you notice with repeated viewings, a lot of things that seemed a bit blurry or uncertain slowly become clearer. The plot is quite intricate and best of all, totally unpredictable---refreshingly, I had no idea what was going to happen down to the very last frame. Another brilliant feature of this movie is that it has a very morally ambiguous subtext or perspective: there really are no clear good or bad guys, no knights in shining armor or innocent angels. Every major character retains an extremely engaging element of darkness, shadow, and surprise and unknowability. The cops and Feds and gangsters are all equally and comically, profane and violent...they're just on opposite teams, or most of them at least. Even the Vera Farmiga character (this actress is a strangely dazzling and exquisite woman as well as a top-notch actress), has her own darkness. What a delight, to enter a world of deeply imperfect and more or less impenetrable human beings, rather than good guys on white horses and bad guys in black hats...gasp! Why, I'll be damned, it-it-it's just like...REAL LIFE!!! In short, this film is definitely a keeper, most definitely worth owning. One of the shortest 2 and 1/2 hours I've spent in a very long time...

The Departed (Widescreen Edition) Available from Amazon Price: $13.99 Updated on 8-28-2008.

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