The Departed – Leonardo DiCaprio, Matt Damon, Jack Nicholson, Mark Wahlberg, Martin Sheen.

Director - Martin Scorsese
It’s been a while since Scorsese directed something worth watching. Gangs of New York was a shambles, and The Aviator was good…good, but not great. People are getting worried now, their faith is shaken, their vocal support of the ‘Master of the Mob Movie’ is feeling like an invite for ridicule.

Enter: The Departed.

The line up, while dazzling in terms of big names and pretty faces, leaves you a little “Huh?” – Matt Damon, while accomplished in the role of the good guy, does not seem like the sort of young man who would run around with mobsters. DiCaprio can act, we know that now, and he’s finally shaking off the “Heart-throb” nametag, but again…a feasible member of the Mafia? Debateable. Jack Nicholson invariably brings to mind scenery chewing and ridiculous facial expressions. Throw in Alec Baldwin and the questionable Mark Wahlberg and you’ve got a hotchpotch of respected actors, pretty boys and Nicholson, and it’s either headed for the stars or a spectacularly brutal crash landing.

But, somehow, it all works. It really, really works. The plot is in essence simple, yet outrageously complex, with double- and triple-crossing, right left and centre. Damon is the young Catholic boy brought up by the mob; Dicaprio is the abandoned and brooding rookie cop. They are each asked by their mentors, Frank Costello (Nicholson) and Captain Queenan (Sheen) respectively, to go undercover for their team. So, without further ado, DiCaprio’s Billy Costigan is thrust headfirst into Costello’s world of re-breaking arms, dodgy deals, cocaine-dusted ladies and foul language. Damon’s Colin Sullivan is forced to play the teachers pet to Police Chief Queenan, smarming about and heading to the top of the class where he gets an insiders look at their efforts to catch Costello and his men so he can tip the big guy off.
Meanwhile, Costigan and Sullivan both fall for Maddy (Vera Farmiga), a therapist for the police force, and their paths get drawn even closer together. Each trying to smoke the other out without getting themselves caught, the tension and paranoia mounts, culminating in a fantastically bloody climax and leaving you with the feeling you might have missed something, but you don’t care because the film was so good you almost wet your pants.

This is, of course, a re-make. And that’s OK, because the original (Infernal Affairs) is even more complicated than this, and the two main characters look so similar it’s desperately confusing. Interestingly, DiCaprio and Damon have a certain twin-esque air about them, and it adds nicely to the utter confusion of the film. But, because it’s a re-make, and the original had some gaping plot holes, this one does too, and if - like me - you like to come away feeling that you’ve really grasped the concept, and everything has slotted perfectly into place, you may be a little disappointed.

The acting in this film is top notch, with good old Leo proving he has got what it takes once more. You get the unshakeable feeling that Costigan is nothing less than a loose canon and is in ridiculously far over his head. The scene where he’s talking to Maddy in her office is the best moment in the film, a different Leonardo DiCaprio emerges, completely at odds with everything you have ever seen him do before, and it’s brilliant. He is finally becoming the actor his preceding roles have promised us. While Matt Damon convincing as the bad guy, and you get the feeling his character is supposed to get the sympathy vote – you’re with DiCaprio’s Costigan all the way. Damon is a little 2-D for his character, he doesn’t connect in the same way, and you don’t feel his characters turmoil as well as you should.
For once, Nicholson’s gurning, scenery-chewing, hamming-it-up self is well placed. A few pantomime moments aside, he is chilling as the mafia boss, and he gets some of the best lines in the film. Martin Sheen is wonderful as always, Alec Baldwin is furiously funny, but the biggest surprise is Wahlberg. Funny in a way that makes you laugh and want to throttle him at the same time - so foul-mouthed he makes the Osbourne’s look polite and he is dynamite-volatile.

Scorsese has, at the risk of jinxing the Big Man, returned to dazzling, heart-racing form. This is perfectly cast, superbly realised and while at first glance may seem like it’s a bizarre mixing pot of sink or swim actors and flawed plotline, this is a film well worth seeing and then treasuring when it finally comes out on Special 2-Disc Edition DVD no doubt, where you can display it next to Goodfellas with giddy pride.