“The Departed”
Directed By: Martin Scorsese. Starring: Leonardo DiCaprio, Matt Damon, Jack Nicholson, Mark Wahlberg, Martin Sheen, Alec Baldwin, Vera Farmiga.
Oh, what a tangled web we weave, when first we practice to deceive. “The Departed”, from director Martin Scorsese, is a film about deception. It’s set in present day Boston, and it centers around three characters. Jack Nicholson is Frank Costello, a Boston mafia-type crime boss. Damon and DiCaprio, Colin Sullivan and Billy Costigan respectively, are two new officers in the Massachusetts State Police.
Both Sullivan and Costigan get wrapped up in the underground world of Costello. Sullivan has a close bond with him, having worked for Costello since childhood. Now as an officer, he works to protect and warn Costello of any police action against him. Queenan (Sheen) and Dignam (Wahlberg) recruit Costigan to infiltrate Costello’s mafia world. Costigan takes on the dangerous assignment. He works his way into Costello’s world. Now there’s the conflict of Costigan working against Costello as one of his hired guns, while Sullivan works for him within the police barracks. When Sullivan learns there’s an informant among Costello’s ranks, he tries to help smoke him out. Now Costigan’s in real trouble- he struggles to keep his identity undercover while he waits for his department to build a case against Costello.
“The Departed” features an impressive ensemble cast and a twisty storyline that’s anything but predictable. As a film that involves police departments and government agencies, it depicts those entities as having a clear lack of communication between each other and even within their own departments. In fact, only two people (Queenan and Dignam) know Costigan’s undercover. His assignment is so secret that no one, including Sullivan, knows he’s a cop. That keeps him alive for a while, as Sullivan works to uncover the informant’s identity for Costello. But the film also depicts how that lack of communication can also be detrimental to solving cases. It’s just another layer of deceit in a film that revolves around deception. In “The Departed” lies save lives- and end them. These characters learn that it may take a while, but the truth catches up with you.
Story: B
Acting: A
Visuals: A
Originality: A-
Enjoyability: B+
Overall: A-
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