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The Departed (2006) Warner
Brothers, 2 hrs. 32 mins.
Starring:
Leonardo DiCaprio, Matt Damon, Jack Nicholson, Mark
Wahlberg, Ray Winstone, Vera Farmiga, Martin Sheen, Alec Baldwin, Anthony
Anderson
Directed by:
Martin Scorsese |
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Nobody can spin a gritty crime drama
in the masterful workings of a legendary filmmaker such as Martin
Scorsese. As a revered moviemaker and ardent film scholar, Scorsese has
crafted some of the most progressively intense urban fare in contemporary
cinema. With pulsating gangland classics ranging from vintage offerings
Mean Streets to GoodFellas, Scorsese once again taps into the chaotic
rhythms of the tricky streets. In the enjoyably corruptible mob saga The
Departed, we’re treated to vintage filmmaking where the thin line between
law enforcers and law-breakers are practically a transparent concept.
Instead of scooping the sordid sidewalks of his homegrown Big Apple/Little
Italy landscape for sumptuous seediness, Scorsese brings his provocative
camera to Beantown’s rough-and-tumble backyard. Thoroughly riveting and
fearless in its intriguing scope, The Departed merely reminds us of what a
visionary force Scorsese is as one of Hollywood’s finest artistic helmers.
The Departed tells the topsy-turvy tale of Boston-based Irish cops and
mobsters and the risky infiltration of two roguish moles doing undercover
work for both policing and crime organizations. Scorsese and screenwriter
Willian Monahan (“Kingdom of Heaven”) concoct an exhilarating and
refreshingly stylish story that feels overwhelmingly challenging. The
script is drenched with colorfully complex characterizations, perceptively
sinister situations and an off-kilter seriocomic overtone that is
hauntingly effective. More importantly the exceptional performances by the
top-notch cast is a winning ingredient that fuels this captivating crime
caper. The authentic hard-edged Bostonian flavor resonates so resoundingly
(particularly with Massachusetts natives Matt Damon and Mark Wahlberg on
board). Imaginatively penetrating, The Departed is a stirring streetwise
opus that wallows in its ominous sparkle.
Scorsese’s big screen adaptation is based upon Hong Kong co-directors Alan
Mak and Andrew Lau Wai Keung’s 2002 smash hit crime thriller “Internal
Affairs”. In fact, Matt Damon and Leonardo DiCaprio is the inspirational
blueprint for Internal Affairs breakout actors Andy Lau and Tony Leung.
Plus, a few noteworthy footnotes should be acknowledged involving this
brilliantly daring production. For starters Damon’s Ocean’s Eleven/Twelve
buddy and co-star Brad Pitt sports a producer’s credit for this film. And
some will also note that The Departed will bring together for the first
time the cinematic working collaboration of Scorsese and multiple
Oscar-winner Jack Nicholson. Interestingly, The Departed is the third
cinematic pairing for DiCaprio as Scorsese’s developing leading man (thus
encouraging the inevitable comparison as being Marty’s newest “Robert
DeNiro” prototype).
Notorious South Boston mob boss Frank Costello (Nicholson) is a criminal
figurehead that has the surrounding region in his suffocating grasp. As a
major influential personality in Southie, Costello is looked upon as a
glorified mentor for the criminally misguided. One Costello disciple is
former Catholic altar boy turned Massachusetts State police cadet Colin
Sullivan (Damon). Sullivan’s hooligan roots is situated in the ways of the
Southie gangsters’ motto that evolved around Costello’s tainted tutelage.
Now part of the Special Investigations Unit, Sullivan is able to keep tabs
on the police-oriented affairs gunning for Costello. No one wants to put
the screws to Costello more than Sullivan’s superior Capt. Ellerby (Alec
Baldwin). Hence, Sullivan has to spy within the ranks of his unit to
protect and inform his gangster guardian of any internal investigations.
The Special Investigations Unit has another undercover source in
conflicted Billy Costigan (DiCaprio). Beleaguered by the reality that he
comes from a long line of shady criminals in his family, Costigan is
moody, defensive and complex as a wounded soul that wants to do the right
thing professionally. Courtesy of a hostile confrontation that involved
his boss Capt. Queenan (Martin Sheen) and his acid-tongued partner Sgt.
Dignam (Wahlberg), Costigan cooperates by partaking in the hush-hush
operation to blend into Frank Costello’s crew. Somehow Costigan is busted
for his “role-playing” which in turn ruins his association with the state
police and lands the bothered informant in prison.
After his stint behind bars, Costigan hits the streets with his family’s
unctuous reputation resting on his burdensome shoulders. This turns out to
be a decent break for Costigan as this puts him that much closer to the
targeted Costello via his Number One right-hand advisor Mr. French (Ray
Winstone). And so through a rigorous initiation overseen by Costello,
Costigan is officially stapled to the inside insanity that is the hellish
universe of these hard-nosed, reputed rabble-rousers. But the pressure is
on and time is of the essence where Costigan has to juggle some meaty
issues at hand. Will he be able to assume the psychological baggage of a
fake cold-blooded Costello comrade while contemplating his own personal
bout with familial low-life crooks?
The film methodically examines the complicated connections of a couple of
young men bound by the tight-fisted traditions of the uncompromising
Boston avenues and alleyways. The double agent routine could have been a
cliched gimmick given the manufactured circumstances. But Scorsese is able
to conduct this engrossing showcase with both a dour and delicious
appetite for the orchestrated violence that permeates in the clouded
psyches of the film’s problematic protagonists. The pulp sleaziness is
almost operatic and Scorsese demonstrates his immense fondness for the
abhorrent subculture of swaggering gangsters and the larcenous lifestyles
that make up for their deviance and deception.
Both DiCaprio and Damon are tremendously convincing as the icy stool
pigeons with built-in angst and anxiety. Nicholson’s flamboyantly dark
Frank Costello is another vibrantly vulgar portrayal typical of the
heralded actor’s applauded devilishness. Nicholson chews up the scenery
(what else is new?) as the psychotic killing machine whose hunger for
death tolls and dames are voracious. Damon’s real-life fellow Bostonian
Wahlberg is explosively sound as a trash-talking law enforcer. Sheen and
Baldwin register candidly as the desk-bound conductors pushing the buttons
for our put-upon pair of snoopers. The only minor drawback is the
inclusion of Vera Farmiga’s police psychologist Madolyn who performs a tag
team romantic affection for both stressed-out snitches Sullivan and
Costigan. The love triangle amongst the threesome feels tacked on as if to
add eagerly to the tangled mix dramatically. It would have been more
believable and involving had Farmiga’s Madolyn been satisfyingly fleshed
out as the intelligent yet ambivalent woman drawn to "bad boys” and the
friction they wear like a shiny badge. She falls short of embracing her
ill-advised admiration for dangerous flawed guys like a fluttering moth
drawn to fire.
From the famously infectious “Bah-stun” accents to Scorsese’s reverence
for street thugs and the deteriorating pathways they control with hustling
haste, The Departed beats us upside our heads with a flashy fury that
stings more caustically than an avenging queen bee. Welcome back,
Marty...your visionary venom of Irish-Catholic binding ties boils over
into a blooming outrage with a precarious fascination so resourcefully
fixating. |
