Departed, The: Special Edition (Dbl DVD) (WS)
Rookie cop Billy Costigan (Leonardo DiCaprio) grew up in crime.
That makes him the perfect mole, the man on the inside of the mob
run by boss Frank Costello (Jack Nicholson). It's his job to win
Costello's trust and help his detective handlers (Mark Wahlberg
and Martin Sheen) bring Costello down. Meanwhile, SIU officer
Colin Sullivan (Matt Damon) has everyone's trust. No one suspects
he's Costello's mole. How these covert lives cross, double-cross
and collide is at the ferocious core of the widely accled The
Departed. Martin Scorsese directs, guiding a cast for the ages in
a visceral tale of crime and consequences. This is searing,
can't-look-away filmmaking: like staring into the eyes of a con -
or a cop - with a .
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Martin Scorsese makes a welcome return to the mean streets (of
Boston, in this case) with The Departed, hailed by many as
Scorsese's best film since Casino. Since this crackling crime
thriller is essentially a Scorsese-stamped remake of the
accled 2002 Hong Kong thriller Infernal Affairs, the film was
intensely scrutinized by devoted critics and cinephiles, and
while Scorsese's intense filmmaking and all-star cast deserve
ample accl, The Departed is also worthy of serious
re-assessment, especially with regard to what some attentive
viewers described as sloppy craftsmanship (!), notably in terms
of mismatched s and jagged continuity. But no matter where
you fall on the Scorsese appreciation scale, there's no denying
that The Departed is a signature piece of work from one of
America's finest directors, designed for maximum impact with a
breathtaking series of twists, turns, and violent surprises. It's
an intricate cat-and-mouse game, but this time the cat and mouse
are both moles: Colin Sullivan (Matt Damon) is an ambitious cop
on the rise, ed in the Boston force by criminal
kingpin Frank Costello (Jack Nicholson). Billy Costigan (Leonardo
DiCaprio) is a hot-tempered cadet who's been artificially
disgraced and then ed into Costello's crime operation as a
seemingly trustworthy soldier. As the multilayered plot unfolds
(courtesy of a scorching adaptation by Kingdom of Heaven
screenwriter William Monahan), Costigan and Sullivan conduct a
volatile search for each other (they're essentially looking for
"themselves") while simultaneously wooing the psychiatrist (Vera
Farmiga) assigned to treat their crime-driven anxieties.
Such convenient coincidences might sink a lesser film, but The
Departed is so electrifying that you barely notice the
plot-holes. And while Nicholson's profane swagger is too much
"Jack" and not enough "Costello," he's still a joy to watch,
especially in a film that's additionally energized by memorable
(and frequently hilarious) supporting roles for Alec Baldwin,
Mark Wahlberg, and a host of other big-name performers. The
Departed also makes clever and plot-dependent use of cell-phones,
to the extent that it couldn't exist without them. Powered by
Scorsese's trademark use of well-chosen soundtrack songs (from
vintage rock to Puccini's operas), The Departed may not be
perfect, but it's one helluva ride for moviegoers, proving
popular enough to become the biggest box-office hit of Scorsese's
commercially rocky career. --Jeff Shannon
On the DVD
Introduced by director Martin Scorsese, the nine deleted scenes
from The Departed are all interesting to watch, though not a
significant loss from the picture. The other bonus features are
very good as well. "Stranger Than Fiction: The True Story of
Whitey Bulger, Southie, and The Departed" is a 21-minute history
of the real-life Boston gangster Jack Nicholson's character was
based on. Scorsese, screenwriter William Monahan, and a number of
journalists are among those interviewed. In "Crossing Criminal
Cultures" (24 minutes), Scorsese and the cast discuss gangster
pictures and specifically Scorsese's. Consider that a warm-up for
Scorsese on Scorsese, an 86-minute documentary from 2004. (It's
the only bonus feature not available on the HD DVD or Blu-ray
versions.) There's no narrator or interviewer: it's just Scorsese
talking about his upbringing and influences. There's a generous
use of clips through The Aviator and even his American Express
commercial. --David Horiuchi
Beyond The Departed
More gangster movies (
/gp/browse/ref=d_ap_departed_1/?node=541986 )
.com's Martin Scorsese Essentials (
/gp/feature.html/ref=d_ap_departed_2/?docId=312551 )
The original inspiration: Infernal Affairs (
/dp/B000LXS6H0/ref=d_ap_departed_3 )