The Departed

2006, USA

Directed by Martin Scorsese

Written by William Monahan.

Based on a screenplay by Siu Fak Mak and Felix Chong

Cast: Leonardo DiCaprio, Matt Damon, Jack Nicholson, Mark Wahlberg

The Departed is Martin Scorsese’s return to form, in that it’s a violent, profane, and powerful crime drama that no one will see. Once dedicated to turning the f-word into a punctuation mark instead of an obscenity, Scorsese has spent the past few years alleviating the Catholic guilt that once informed his films by making pandering bio-pics and documentaries. However, it appears that his priest might have assigned him 50 Hail Maries and a 18 year old male’s action movie wet dream after his last confession, and so we have The Departed. A remake of Hong Kong’s Infernal Affairs, The Departed parallels the story of a undercover cop in a South Boston organized crime ring with the story of the same gang’s own mole in the police department. As both of their lives spiral out of control, the two futilely track each other like a dog chasing its own tail. A dog that likes to swear a lot. And sniffs cocaine like a Pomeranian’s rear. And fires its Glock 9mm through a plastic 2 litre coke bottle to muffle the gunshot.

The cast is perfectly structured from the ground up. Even overlooking such heavyweights as Jack Nicholson and Martin Sheen, strong supporting turns by Ray Winstone, Mark Walhberg, and Running Scared’s Vera Farmiga do justice to a strong, meaty screenplay. This is one of the few instances where the remake may be a better film than the original. Infernal Affairs got bogged down in its own twists, turns, and Asian love of high tech cell-phones that tell time, play G Unit singles and turn into Autobots at the touch of a button, but Scorsese’s remake tells the complicated story clearly. The screenplay, adapted by William Monahan from Siu Fak Mak and Felix Chong’s original, is tightly structured, despite the film’s 2 and a half hour length, and wastes little time while simultaneously refusing to skimp on important character development. Leonard DiCaprio plays the undercover cop, and for once in his professional life doesn’t look like a 12 year-old wearing a fake beard to a Halloween dance. Matt Damon, as the crooked cop, proves that Boston produces more than frat boys with alcohol poisoning, and almost redeems himself for loosing Ben Affleck on the world with Good Will Hunting. Jack Nicholson, I’m a little more concerned about. I feel that maybe he went a little crazy during the filming of The Shining, and is now struggling with mild to severe Marlon Brando-ism, showing up to set without pants and defecating instead of finishing sentences. While this always infuses his roles with a sense of danger, that danger is that he’s going to start yelling like Al Pacino on amphetamines, and no one with intact eardrums wants that. Nevertheless, whether he’s acting or genuinely unhinged, Nicholson sells the role of gangster Frank Costello completely.

Martin Scorsese’s direction is, as always, a unique blend of traditional Hollywood narrative techniques and Brakhage/Snow-esque structuralism, telling a strong story while constantly reminding you that you’re watching a movie. But where The Aviator and perhaps Gangs of New York fell victim to this strange amalgam of styles, here the techniques help the story instead of hinder it. The cinematography, by Michael Ballhaus, is bright, clear, and sharp, contrasting the dark, gritty tone of the film, and somehow enhancing it. While the film isn’t perfect, it’s the closest Scorsese has come in a while, and that’s certainly worth its weight in f-bombs.

RATING: 8 on 10

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