Departed: Unter Feinden

When The Departed finally gained for Martin Scorsese a Best Director Oscar it was felt it might have been for the work of a lifetime. It's not my favorite Scorsese film, that honor belongs to Casino for me. But it certainly was the Best Film of that year as well, rivaled in my humble opinion by Blood Diamond.

Instead of an Italian atmosphere for The Departed, Scorsese decided to use the Boston Irish who are the dominant group of that city in everything including crime. The film is simple enough, the police want to take down organized crime kingpin Jack Nicholson who plays a character named Frank Costello. That was Scorsese's little joke because the real Frank Costello was one of the Mafia overlords back in the day, although his real name was an Italian one.

Nicholson's character is based on Whitey Bulger who was the real life organized crime chieftain of the Boston area. He came from a really interesting family because a brother of his William Bulger had a long political career that culminated in that Bulger being elected President of the Massachusetts State Senate. I didn't add the word distinguished because scandal crept around that man all his life.

Getting this man won't be easy because he has a full bag of tricks. One of them being that years ago he put a young man played by Matt Damon through the Boston Police Academy, concealing a juvenile record and Damon moved gradually up the ranks and got to work in the Boston PD Internal Affairs Division. A great spot for a mole to keep an eye on pending investigations.

But the Boston PD has put one of their own undercover in the person of Leonardo DiCaprio whose family knows Nicholson from the neighborhood. At that point the whole film becomes a cat and mouse game on both sides with each having their informants on the other side. There are no dummies on either side, the police aren't keystone cops and the criminals as shrewd and brutal as they come.

Scorsese probably had a lot of help in having both Matt Damon and Mark Wahlberg in the cast. Both of these players are well known for their Boston roots and they fit really well into their parts. Mark Wahlberg for his role as one of the task force trying to take Nicholson down got an Oscar nomination for Best Supporting Actor. He lost to Alan Arkin for Little Miss Sunshine.

Wahlberg was the only one who came up short at Oscar time. The Departed won additional Oscars for Best Adapted Screenplay and Best Film Editing to go with the Best Picture And Best Director Oscars for Scorsese. Leonardo DiCaprio had a career year, he might have been nominated himself if he wasn't up for Best Actor in Blood Diamond.

The real Whitey Bulger is 80 years old now and in real life he was as full of tricks as Nicholson's character is in the film. If you think you know how this film ends, I guarantee you will be wrong. Nicholson's character has survived in many ways, that's all I can say.

Scorsese has a nice feel for Boston's atmosphere, as good as what he had for Goodfellas in New York and Casino in Las Vegas. He assembled a great cast of people who all got a crack at working with one of the best film directors of all time. The cast didn't let Martin down at Oscar time and they won't let you down when you see it on the big screen or the small.

Nicholson, Damon, and Dicaprio make for an absolute powerhouse trio in this classic film. I have had this on my watch list for quite some time, and although it wasn't as rock solid as I was expecting, it's ending was right up my alley. Aside from the phenomenal acting and the satisfying conclusion, I was only impressed with the simplicity of which a complex double-rat story was told. I never felt lost trying to keep track of who worked for who and who was spying on who, because the filmmakers laid it out so clearly for me.

Now I know that 'The Departed' is based off of the Hong Kong movie 'WuJianDao', but Scorsese really grabs hold of a great story and brings it to the American Screen. My father grew up in Boston and when we walked out of the theater he couldn't stop talking about how authentic the environment and attitude was. Then there's the acting in which the lead actors (Nicholson, DiCaprio, Damon) not only give stunningly entertaining performances, but you become engulfed in each one's perspective and dilemmas. The smaller roles that of (Baldwin, Walberg, Sheen) are supporting roles that remind me of Jesus Quintana from 'The Big Lebowski', by this I mean that their screen time is limited but they make lasting impressions that you cherish each and every scene they are in, Alec Baldwin especially. The story itself starts off with the basic intro of the players and the setting, but you'll find yourself slowing following each and every plot twist and rooting back and forth for the good guys and for the bad guys. If you're a Scorsese fan, which I am, I think you will appreciate this film. You can clearly see the Scorsese touch ranging from the cinematography and of course the music, it's great to hear "Gimme Shelter" again, but "Comfortably Numb" played in so well. It's another gangster flick from Scorsese, yet this one stands alone because feels so fresh and most would agree Scorsese does gangster films the best; so why not let him. Oscar worthy, the acting I certainly hope; this is DiCaprio's best role since 'The Aviator' which was his best role since 'Gangs of New York', am I seeing a pattern here. But my lasting impression wasn't concerned with the politics of the golden statue; my lasting impression was that I had sat through 2 and half hours of brilliant and especially entertaining storytelling. Thank you Mr. Scorsese.

An undercover cop and a mole in the police attempt to identify each other while infiltrating an Irish gang in South Boston. Let me start off with saying that this is my favorite movie, no doubts about it. the movie starts out slow with it's LONG intro, but picks up and never breaks pace. I normally hate pace breaking in movies, so this is already a big + in my book. the story is interesting to watch as Dicaprio and Damon struggle with their identities while Jack Nicholsen has some fun as the bad guy. This movie has a great plot, cast, music score, length and almost all elements of movies possible such as: drama, comedy, action, crime, thrills and suspense and many more. The Departed is a great movie and should be recognized as one.I find nothing wrong with it. maybe the lack of female characters, but it ain't that bad.

Definitely the the type of movie that makes it worth going to the theater. Very intense action and violence, twisting plot, lot's of misdirection.

The story line is a bit overly whelming at times, this isn't a good movie to watch if you're tired and follow the action, the double crosses and the sometimes confusing who's who of the movie, but if you can just remember the basic characters the minor twists won't be too confusing.

While it's certainly not a love story, there is that element, with a bit of a morality play going the whole time.

I can't make some of the statements I'd like to make because I really try to avoid spoilers in my reviews, but I'll say that I enjoyed the movie even though had I been in charge it may have ended differently...

All that said, if you like a thriller that has some rough and tough violence and a plot with a few twists and turns this film would be one I'd recommend to you.