There is the most perfect cinematic moment in the later stages of Martin Scorsese's The Departed. Cut off from his handlers, feeling more alone than at any other point in the movie, undercover police officer Billy Costigan (Leonardo DiCaprio) receives a call on his mobile phone. The phone is his only real point of contact with the powers that be, and yet - under the circumstances - he knows answering it would be a bad move.
On the other end of the line is corrupt cop Colin Sullivan (Matt Damon) — the yin to Costigan's yang. While Costigan's role is to infiltrate one of Boston's most prominent criminal gangs, Sullivan's origin rests in the heart of that very same group. Sullivan knows that whoever picks up the call is the infiltrator.
Neither speaks. Time stands still. The tension is astonishingly tangible; DiCaprio and Damon both sell the scene with magnificent performances, worthy of actors with far more experience than either of these two relatively young stars. I can't help but be reminded of the Pacino-De Niro face-off in Heat. The tension is that strong.
The Departed is, unquestionably, the best film I've seen this year. It's a film comprised of so many magnificent scenes, like the one I've described above, and each scene is filled with equally magnificent performances.
At the top of the list is the one, the only Mr Jack Nicholson. I thought our days of seeing Jack do psycho were over, but I'm happy to say he's back, and at his maniacal best. Terrifyingly intense, cruel, and at times downright evil, Nicholson's portrayal of gang boss Frank Costello is one of his best. Nobody can play roles like this the way Nicholson does, and his performance alone is worth the price of admission. It's such an entertaining performance that it's hard to criticise, but it does feel like there's a certain lack - as with Nicholson's previous performances, most notably The Shining - of graduality when it comes to Costello's descent into apparent madness. It seems he's supposed to be driven to greater and more disturbing lengths of psychosis, but some of this is lost as a result of Nicholson's on-screen lunacy.
And yet, DiCaprio manages to share many of his scenes and impresses just as much. In fact, DiCaprio's performance here is perhaps more impressive than Nicholson's, given that we already know how well Jack pulls these roles off. I've never seen DiCaprio convey such intensity on screen. As his character passes through a complex range of emotions, from rage, to paranoia, to despair, DiCaprio nails each one. He holds the screen like few people acting today.
Article comments
1 - d. k.
Like a lot of Scorcese films he takes you almost there, scratches the surface of important issues, only to drop the ball in crucial moments. I usually like his movies and think he's one of the best directors out there. But let's face it, it's usually the little things Directors miss that make or break a movie. The Departed missed the mark on several occasions for any intelligent viewer looking for Scorcese to hit the Bull’s Eye again.
Most of the movie was good cop robber intense blood and mob stuff on the order of the Sopranos. Good scenery and locations. But in the acting, Jack was overboard and a bit cartoonish, not really sinking into the depth of the evil character he was playing. I expected way more from Jack. It looked like he was playing and not being the character. I was let down. It was just too convenient how Matt got away with way too much under the other cop's noses. Martin Sheen was so under used as was Alec Baldwin. Leo's acting was the stand out for this cast.
The editing was sketchy. Many of the short scenes quickly ended and were poorly seamed together. The sound track was totally off track: up and down, loud and screeching, and didn't make sense for me with this movie.
The parts of the storyline that made the least sense and where Scorcese took this stellar cast from a great movie into a dumb movie were:
The love affair Leo has with the shrink wouldn't happen. Kind of a big stretch for the audience to believe this. A police shrink isn't going to nearly throw prescription narcotic drugs at a new parolee client, then immediately transfer him to another shrink and then right away have an affair with him. Come on, at least build it into her character ahead of time with a scene here or there so we get a glimpse of her failing integrity issues first, build a little heat between her and Leo and then have them get together and then perhaps people could buy it. I mean really, how stupid do you think the audience is??
Then toward the end it got disorganized in the direction or editing which of course the buck stops at the Direction. In order:
As Leo fears for his life, he goes to the shrink’s place and makes a big deal about giving the shrink an orange oversize envelope in case he dies or calls her to tell her to open it. But what's in it? The rest of his inheritance? A copy of his file? A recording of Jack and Matt? What was that entire scene about and in the next sequence, why did Scorcese make such a big deal of it having the shrink stressing over opening the envelope, not opening it and then writes Leo's name on the envelope and puts it in her top drawer and not a locked file cabinet?? Again, dumb!! We never find out?? Editing or Direction- Both??
Why'd Leo send a copy of the CD to Matt but not the Police? Huh? He was supposed to be the smart guy, right- 1400 SAT score, come on? And then to further insult our intelligence, why'd Leo meet Matt on top of a deserted building, knowing his file had been erased, not making sure his ass was covered? Are we expected to believe Leo wouldn't have talked to the Black dude cop ahead of time, suddenly he just shows up on the roof and knows nothing like Shultz in Hogan’s Heroes? Then were suppose to believe, again suddenly, that the other bad cop who only had a casual bit part, just knows what is going on up on the top floor and is just conveniently waiting at the bottom floor and when the elevator doors open it's wham, bam, thank you mam. How tidy. And for the rest of the movie somehow the shrink doesn't turn Matt in after hearing the CD Leo sent. Huh again?? Who’s baby is it?? Alec’s character just fades away after all those great hysterical scenes he's in. The good cop Mark, who’s character never quite goes anywhere but you expect it to, is totally left out of the movie and no where to be seen and then suddenly appears in that ending...What the heck was that? Matt walks in, looks at Mark and say, "Ok." Bam. Did the writers suddenly get writer’s block?
My girlfriend liked the cute little scene of the rat on the banister at the end but from Scorcese I expect depth and cool and not cute. Marty was lost in action on this movie. I sure hope he gets a good focus group to review his next project.
2 - ben holum
comment number one is my thoughts exactly. EXACTLY.
3 - Kaonashi
"And for the rest of the movie somehow the shrink doesn't turn Matt in after hearing the CD Leo sent."
How do you think Mark Wahlberg found out about Matt Damon? I think it's pretty obvious that the package contained instructions for the shrink to tell Mark Wahlberg about Matt Damon in case he was killed. As for whose baby it is, I think the point was that we weren't supposed to know. It's open to speculation.