After a two-film hiatus in top quality filmmaking, with Gangs of New York and The Aviator, Martin Scorsese comes smashing back with The Departed; a film similarly themed to a lot of his others but fresh enough to feel like it has a point. About 90% of the film is top-notch, it’s just a shame the last leg breaks before (and on) the finish line.

Two men from opposite sides of the law are sent undercover in the Massachusetts State Police and the Irish mafia, but bloodshed starts to ensue when certain discoveries are made, as the two men are set out two find out the identity of each other.

The Departed is one of the prime examples that remakes shouldn’t be dismissed right out of the gate. As there are so many nowadays it’s easy for one to bash them regardless of what the content is like (bashings that usually end up being completely justified). And although not an official remake per se, The Departed is a retelling of a Hong Kong film Infernal Affairs brought to and transformed for a Western audience. It’s one of the few originally Asian storylines that completely works in an American setting; some would say it is even suited more than the original story’s location. This is without a doubt Scorsese’s best screen offering since Goodfellas, that might not be saying much looking at his filmography in the last 10 years or so but you get my drift. He has taken an entertaining and gritty storyline and upped the level on both accounts, mixing in better character development and more surprising plot twists.

It’s quite amazing how the level of tension, intrigue, and all-round entertainment is kept so high throughout most of the film, at least in the first three quarters anyway. The film is so complex in the way in which it is presented but peel away all complications and you have a basic nature, given plainly in the title. It is a film almost obsessed with death, presenting how it can happen so easily within these most down-and-dirty circumstances and how it means more to some than it does others.

Take its two main protagonists. DiCaprio’s Billy Costigan (who is stellar in the role), the mole for the police inside the mafia, is one who wouldn’t hesitate to kill the “bad guy” but would be very careful when around innocent people. Damon’s Colin Sullivan (who's also brilliant), the mole for the mafia inside the police, is quite the opposite. And yet there are shades of grey involved for both men, and as the film nears its conclusion those different shades become apparent to the viewer. If there was a big predominant weakness of the original Infernal Affairs it would be that it’s a little weak on the character side of things, and The Departed goes to great lengths to improve that shortcoming.