reviews
BlogCritics.org http://blogcritics.org/archives/2006/10/07/210420.php Superlatives are building up in praise of Martin Scorsese’s new film The Departed. No doubt, however, there will be plenty of people comparing it (unfavorably in all likelihood) to the director’s previous, similarly themed Goodfellas and Casino, as well as the Hong Kong movie Infernal Affairs, of which The Departed is a somewhat loose remake. Don’t listen to those people. There’s a good probability that fans of Scorsese’s crime-related movies will also enjoy this one, but comparisons are needless and unfair. How can anyone really judge anything they’ve seen only recently and probably only once against something else that’s become a part of cinematic culture and history? Enjoy The Departed for what it is — an electrifying, well-acted story with a dream cast and the most accomplished American director working today. The story is deceptively simple. Boston mob boss Frank Costello (played by Jack Nicholson) grooms a young man to become a police officer (Matt Damon) just as the state police set up one of their own (Leonardo DiCaprio) to infiltrate the gangster’s clan. The two men’s paths never cross and eventually both men are given the task of finding their counterpart. The complexities of this twin paradox are explored with an intriguing amount of gravitas, especially with DiCaprio’s character, Billy Costigan. While Damon’s Colin Sullivan enjoys rising up through the police ranks and his new luxury apartment, Costigan leads the life his father worked tirelessly for his son to avoid. Sullivan is given greater and greater responsibilities on the state police force while Costigan deals with prison, witnessing murders, and unspeakable violence. It’s not surprising that the female psychotherapist (Vera Farmiga, who will hopefully parlay this somewhat standard role into a higher visibility that allows her to show the acting chops she displayed in last year’s Down to the Bone) becomes interested in both men for different reasons. When Costigan entrusts her with an envelope presumably containing crucial details of the work he’s done, the contrast in how the two men view her is obvious. DiCaprio is mesmerizing as Costigan, giving essentially two performances and finally showing the intensity that was lacking in some of his other efforts. There’s a particular point in the film where the character is in a nearly impossible situation, closer than ever to having his cover blown and struggling to deal with what has just happened to one of the two men who know he’s a cop. Stripped of a safety net, Costigan’s fear is palpable and DiCaprio is perfect. In fact, I would venture to say that his performance really elevates The Departed from what could have been a much more standard cops-and-gangsters action picture to a film with a hefty amount of emotional depth. Even though DiCaprio is the standout of the remarkable cast, Nicholson is, as expected, delightfully over-the-top when need be. Because of his iconic status (how many other 69-year-olds would Rolling Stone put on its cover?), Nicholson’s involvement seems to be the most talked about aspect of the picture and the prologue prior to the opening title focuses on his character. Nevertheless, Nicholson does what he should here, which is play an aging, eccentric crime boss brimming with explosive evil. Damon is also effective, if overshadowed by DiCaprio, although I felt there could have been some more development as to how Sullivan could so blindly follow Costello on the basis of a free bag of groceries. I also never fully believed Damon was truly good as a cop or truly bad as a crook like I could with DiCaprio, who effectively showed a short fuse on more than one occasion while effortlessly switching back to being the tortured hero headcase. Rounding out the main cast are Martin Sheen and Mark Wahlberg as the two cops aware of Costigan’s undercover status and Alec Baldwin (who seems to have found his niche as a character actor lately) as Sullivan’s police boss. Wahlberg is certainly entertaining as well, if more so for the insults his character is frequently dishing out than his acting. The always interesting Ray Winstone, who does what he can with a limited role as Costello’s top thug, is here, too. As the film unfolds, the suspense reaches a fever pitch that lasts right up to the end credits. The ending manages to be mostly satisfying while also leaving a bitter taste. Without going into too much detail, it feels somewhat like a cop-out and, without retaining any artistic ambiguity, fails to completely resolve several questions. It’s probably the film’s weakest segment, even if it had been slowly painting itself into that corner, or one like it, for much of the picture. Nevertheless, the two and a half hours of running time is never excessive, and, given the smart tone and dynamic pacing, I certainly can’t hold screenwriter William Monahan’s decision against him too strongly. Martin Scorsese’s fingerprints are all over this film, from the early strains of “Gimme Shelter” to the numerous quick and violent deaths. At this point in his career, these directorial touches serve more as comforting reminders of Scorsese’s mastery than attention-grabbing distractions. He’s not repeating himself so much as showing that these kind of men and their actions are what interest him, or at least that this is the type of story he understands and at which he excels. While it may be impossible not to consider his previous work in the gangster genre when thinking about The Departed, the new film just builds on his impressive career and legacy. I never imagined my lofty expectations could possibly be met, yet somehow Scorsese managed to exceed them.

without retaining any artistic ambiguity, fails to completely resolve several questions.Doesn't the second part of the sentence negate the first?

reviews
Don't know about anyone else but I never get tired of reading reviews for this film, especially when they're positive ones :) . John Moore, TEXAS.GIGs.comhttp://www.texasgigs.com/news/2006/oct/07/movie-review-i-departedi/ Pedigreed: a modifier used to describe a film made by arguably the best director in the business, starring arguably the most charismatic actor in the business (no, I'm not referring to Matt Damon) and including a supporting cast loaded with talent the way you expect your Quiznos cheese steak to be loaded with prime rib ("the king of meats"). It's a characterization rife with opportunity for blown expectations and bitter disappointment; when you bring legends together, people expect a legendary outcome. Marty teamed up with Jack? Something worth watching had better transpire onscreen, or it's time for a lynching in the streets of New York, and I'm betting we could find some gangs up there to pull it off. The Departed In South Boston, where the state police force is waging war on organized crime, young undercover cop Billy Costigan is assigned to infiltrate the mob syndicate run by gangland chief Costello. While Billy is quickly gaining Costello's confidence, Colin Sullivan, a hardened young criminal who has infiltrated the police department as an informer for the syndicate, is rising to a position of power in the Special Investigation Unit. Each man becomes deeply consumed by his double life, gathering information about the plans and counter-plans of the operations he has penetrated. But when it becomes clear to both the gangsters and the police that there's a mole in their midst, Billy and Colin are suddenly in danger of being caught and exposed to the enemy--and each must race to uncover the identity of the other man in time to save himself. Showtimes and more on The Departed No rope needed, it turns out. When was the last time you saw a Scorsese movie that didn't grab your viewing self by the short hairs and force him or her to sit at attention for the duration of the film? (Forget that Dylan documentary; criminy, I'm talking about his DRAMAS.) Well, your hairs are in for a good solid yanking again this time, mate, so strap yourself in for a two-and-a-half hour thrill ride called The Departed. One reel into this Boston-based über-grit crime drama, Frank Costello (the Jack Nicholson mob boss character) is having a casual conversation with new employee Billy Costigan (the Leonardo DiCaprio undercover cop character), when he pulls from his desk drawer a ziplock bag containing a severed hand. As the conversation proceeds, he removes the bloody hand from the bag and gestures absently with it, eventually removing from its finger a gold ring which he tells his associate to deliver to the hand's formerly attached owner's wife. This is exactly the kind of material (I mean figuratively, or course) that Nicholson needed to juice up a career lately given over to touchy-feely comedic turns in films like About Schmidt and Something's Gotta Give. Atta boy, Jack! - it's good to see you've still got it in ya. The story, for those who aren't Hong Kong film buffs (anyone left out there?), is lifted from Mou gaan dou (2002), distributed in the U.S. as Infernal Affairs. Scorsese and fellow producers went so far as to hire Siu Fai Mak - scripter of the original Hong Kong title - to assist William Monahan with screenwriting duties and make sure he didn't leave anything out, such as the breaking-the-plaster-arm-cast-to-search-for-the-hidden-listening-device scene. Basically, it's about two guys from the same tough Irish neighborhood (DiCaprio and the aforementioned Matt Damon) who pursue careers in law enforcement only to end up on opposite sides of the undercover razor wire. One character (Damon's Colin Sullivan) appears to be an upstanding clean-cut go-getter who rises rapidly in the ranks of the MA State Police based upon skill and intelligence, while behind the scenes he feeds sensitive cop operational data to his long-time mentor/surrogate father, crime lord Frank Costello. The other chap (DiCaprio's Billy Costigan) flunks out of the police academy, does hard time for assault and battery and then joins up with the Costello gang - all at the instigation of his law enforcement employees, to whom he continues to report. He's living what we crime drama film critics like to call a life of "deep cover" - meaning he's in deepest shit if Frank Costello finds out he's ratting him out to the cops. Want to be a reviewer? TexasGigs reviews are written by volunteers who want to share their knowledge and passion with other local enthusiasts. Anyone can write a review-- You can instantly post a comment on anything on the site, and for shows and movies, that might be in the form of a review. If you want to write more regularly, with a blog or your reviews appearing in the "stories" section, drop us a line. Now, the twist is that both these guys are tasked by their (real) bosses with finding the mole in the opposing organization – so they end up looking for each other, providing for some tense circumstances while they sniff the evidentiary air. Like all double agents, they are more alike than they’d care to admit, even though one is a crook and the other something of a self-sacrificing hero. Per the movie’s tagline, when you’re looking at a loaded gun, the difference between cop and outlaw shrinks down to zilch. DiCaprio and Damon are well-cast in roles to fit their personalities: Damon is charming and blatantly ambitious, confident to the point of distastefulness - even though it turns out he has occasional trouble getting it up for his live-in girlfriend. DiCaprio, on the other hand, is all about dependency and vulnerability, which probably explains why the live-in girlfriend of the Damon character enjoys going to bed with him - it's kind of a refreshing change of pace for her, I suppose. (Plus, he apparently produces wood on cue.) By the way, the lady in question is played by the waif-like Vera Farmiga, kind of a blue-eyed version of Kim Raver, and that's not a bad thing at all, I'm just saying. Farmiga's character, Madolyn, is a psychologist catering to those in the law enforcement profession, and she's not hurting for clients. Also turning in outstanding performances are Martin Sheen as Queenan, head of the undercover sting operation; British actor Ray Winstone (of The Proposition fame) as "Mr. French", Costello's right hand man (hand still attached, in case you were wondering); and (I can't believe I'm saying this) Alec Baldwin in an understated and engagingly natural portrayal of Squad Leader Ellerby. Deserving of special mention is Mark Wahlberg, whose foul-mouthed wise-cracking Dignam plays a perfect foil to Queenan's formal authority figure. But, man, that hairdo - it looks troweled on. I'm not going to surprise anyone by telling you that this is a very violent film. It’s a story of desperate, brutal men in extreme circumstances, and blood is bound to flow. The thrill of the thing is not knowing exactly whose blood is going to flow when. Just don't be surprised if not all the characters treading the boards are left standing at the end of the show. HEARD AND NOTED: "Nobody gives you anything - you have to take it." - Frank Costello to the young Colin Sullivan. "There is no one more full of shit than a cop, except a cop on TV." - Frank Costello to Billy Costigan. "Normally, he's a very nice guy. Don't judge him by this meeting alone." - Ellerby to the assembled crime task force, after they've been verbally reamed by Dignam. "You don't have any cats... I like that." - pre-coital comments of Billy Costigan to Madolyn. MEMORABLE IMAGE: the box suite at the opera, with Nicholson's visage bisected by red and black light; a beautiful black lady on his red side, and a blonde on his black side. MOST POWERFUL WEAPON EMPLOYED IN THE FILM: the cell phone.

"There is no one more full of shit than a cop, except a cop on TV." - Frank Costello to Billy Costigan. Nuh-uh. That's Billy to Madolyn.

More reviews
David Denby of the New Yorker magazine: http://www.newyorker.com/critics/cinema/articles/061016crci_cinema Bangor News http://www.bangornews.com/news/t/lifestyle.aspx?articleid=141536&zoneid=41 Couple of reviews from collegiate newspapers: http://www.advancetitan.com/story.asp?issue=11311&story=5393 http://www.dailytoreador.com/media/storage/paper870/news/2006/10/09/LaVida/Karkoutly.the.Departed.Among.Scorseses.Best-2337919.shtml?norewrite200610090147&sourcedomain=www.dailytoreador.com

First...THANKS TO ALL ....who have posted recent reviews :) Arn Below is scan of People review that you asked for....figure you would know how to make it smaller

Great! Thanks, Peanut.

reviews
Thank you Peanut for the People scan. A Marxist reviews the film: http://www.politicalaffairs.net/article/articleview/4216/1/32/ And in this review, the reviewer picks up on the The Third Man film reference: http://feed.insnews.org/v-cgi/feeds.cgi?feedid=145&story_id=2213019

Courtney Thanks for even more reviews...and definitely agree with your sentiments = never get tired of reading these positive comments... feel like a 'proud parent' hearing others 'gush' over my 'baby' ! :)

A review from someone who despaired hearing about an American remake of Internal Affairs: The Departed (review) Mean Streets of Boston So I face a dilemma, as a gal who names GoodFellas among her very favorite films -- and believe me, I know how few gals would be calling GoodFellas one of her favorite films -- and also as a film lover who despairs of the fad for remaking anything and everything for no good reason at all. I dilemma because The Departed is Martin Scorsese back on track like he hasn’t been in years -- and I say this as a critic who liked The Aviator and Gangs of New York more than many others; this is as toe-curlingly thrilling a film about the misleading seductions of the criminal life and the idiocies in pursuing it as anyone, never mind just Scorsese, has made since GoodFellas. And yet it is an adaptation of a Hong Kong film, Infernal Affairs, that I despaired the remaking of, and particularly with the casting of Matt Damon and Leonardo DiCaprio. But I was wrong, and in particular about Damon and DiCaprio. This isn’t merely a cunning sprint along the knife edge between cops and mobsters, one that spooks you into feeling at any moment that you might fall off, or worse, cut you for standing too long in the dangerous middle. It’s also the smar-*test*-('") kind of spectacular that an international remake can be: it picks up the clever threads of story from its source material and weaves them into another world in such a way that it’s hard to see how they didn’t spring from that world in the first place. The Irish working-class cultures of Boston’s law-enforcement agencies and criminal underworld are as much characters in The Departed as the actual cops and mobsters themselves. Watching Infernal Affairs and trying to imagine such all-American boys as Damon and DiCaprio in roles inherently Chinese -- with a whole different ethos about machismo -- led me to despair. With screenwriter William Monahan’s (Kingdom of Heaven) whole-cloth transmutation of the basic story into something that feels as if it sweated itself up off the mean streets of Beantown, they couldn’t be more perfect. You have to wonder whether Scorsese has found his next-generation DeNiro, his new muse/alter ego, in DiCaprio -- Gangs and Aviator almost feel, in retrospect, like warmups for their onscreen-offscreen give and take here. DiCaprio’s Billy Costigan, a rookie state cop gone deep undercover in the Irish mob, is the kind of character DeNiro would have played 30 years ago, a young man driven by a rage kept barely in check by the constraints of police honor, and DiCaprio inhabits him with a fiery intensity reminiscent of DeNiro. And Scorsese adores him, pushes in on his glower and lingers there, making love to his slow-burn. DiCaprio’s is nowhere near as showy a performance as Jack Nicholson’s (Something's Gotta Give, Anger Management) inevitably is as crime boss Frank Costello -- imagine the Godfather as played by the Joker -- but the fact that DiCaprio, as his new underling, is not blown off the screen by it is a -*test*-('")ament to DiCaprio’s power here. In a quieter way, DiCaprio gives as good as he gets from Nicholson, which is one strand of astonishment among many in this exhilarating movie. The biggest bit of cleverness comes straight from Infernal Affairs: not only is there a cop spying on the mob from the inside, there’s a mobster mole at state police HQ. That’s Colin Sullivan, and Damon (Syriana, The Brothers Grimm) plays him cold and calculating like he invented the idea, with an effortless bravura that keeps you questioning Sullivan’s loyalties: surely he cannot really be this bad a bad guy... can he? DiCaprio’s and Damon’s innately assured performances only add to a level of suspense that eventually becomes almost unbearable, as Sullivan’s police assignments get him closer to the goal that Costello has set for him -- rooting out the cop that the crime boss suspects is hiding in his organization -- because we’re never entirely certain where either man’s allegiance will fall when push comes to shove. And for all the tripwire tension and even moments of sheer terror, The Departed is frequently downright comic: Nicholson, of course, can make almost anything a punchline, stealing your sympathy with it even when you want to hate him, but who’da thunk that Mark Wahlberg (Invincible, The Italian Job), as one of only two cops who know Costigan’s real identity, could be so funny in a nimbly deadpan kind of way? He takes a no-bullshit attitude and brings it all the way around to something that makes you think maybe he’s all bullshit -- in one scene that emphasizes the smart, snappy speed of Monahan’s script, Wahlberg and Alec Baldwin (Fun with Dick & Jane, The SpongeBob SquarePants Movie) as the head of a rival state-police department, trade a rapidfire barrage of vulgar insults that shoots by before you even realize that they’re both kidding... maybe. The whole film teeters back and forth like that, never letting you settle for sure on anything, not even where your own approval belongs. It’s an electrifying experience, one that reminds us why we go to the movies in the first place. Viewed at a semipublic screening with an audience of critics and ordinary moviegoers rated R for strong brutal violence, pervasive language, some strong sexual content and drug material http://www.flickfilosopher.com/blog/2006/10/the_departed_review.html

Lena Thanks for another good review....has some great comments regarding DiCaprio... :) Below is post from poster at Hot Blog Is too funny..and so true...at one of the night time showings we attended....the audience gasped when DiCaprio was killed ..as they did at all of other showings....but..at this particular showing...after the gasps subsided there was a collective 'moan' from all the females in the audience.....it was too funny... When Leo gets it in the end, a woman in my packed theater SCREAMED BLOODY MURDER. This is known as The Movie Orgasm, folks, and only master directors have been known to bring us to it. Who needs a towel?

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Peanut, that scene certainly was the one that brought out the most audience reaction for me also. The Best film of 2006 according to this reviewer: Scorsese returns to form Is 'The Departed' the best film of 2006? By: Ed Kaczynski Billy Costigan (Leonardo DiCaprio) grimaces in pain when Costello (Jack Nicholson) orders French (Ray Winstone) to smash his cast to make sure he's not wearing a wire. By: Courtesy Photo View: 1 | 2 View Slideshow More In Arts & Entertainment: Return of the low-brow Failed searching This movie smokes them all It's been a long time since I've had much good to say about a film. Lets hope I'm not out of practice. The job of a film critic is to provide their opinion on what's coming up, and what's already out, so that the critical reader with a similar taste in films can make an informed decision on what to see. It is not our job to "sell" you a movie, but to provide the best feedback possible. As such, please understand that when a film garners an outstanding review, it isn't without merit. Having said all that, I feel comfortable acknowledging the following. "The Departed" is the best film of 2006. Martin Scorsese deserves the Best Director nomination he will undoubtedly get for this achievement, and the film is a breath of fresh air in an otherwise stale industry. Stepping out of the pack of ho-hum summer "blockbusters" and re-hashed romantic comedies, "The Departed" is a gritty, violent, intelligent drama that delivers on all levels. While originally based on a Japanese film ("Mau gaan dou," or "Infernal Affairs"), "The Departed" has a unique flair brought to the film by Scorsese. It brings to life his own interpretation of order and chaos, good and evil, life and love in the city of Boston. The story: Frank Costello (Jack Nicholson) runs the Boston underworld with a policy based on fear and violence. He takes under his wing Colin Sullivan (Matt Damon), a young and coming star in the Massachusetts State Police, and places him on the fast track to promotion – all the while remaining a resource in Frank's pocket. Billy Costigan (Leonardo DiCaprio), another rising officer, is placed deep undercover in Costello's outfit, in order to find out who Costello's contact within the state office is. Tensions grow high as the three slowly lose what trust they have in each other, all the while authorities are about to come down on their heads. I'll say it. There's almost nothing bad I can say about this movie. It's suspenseful, it's comedic when it wants to be, and it doesn't try to be something it's not. Scorsese manages to capture the Boston landscape perfectly, despite actually filming most of the picture in New York. Matt Damon manages to exude New England attitude (pulling, I suppose, from his birth in Cambridge, Mass.). As the cowardly and craven Colin, he manages to make you want to hate him, all the while keeping the audience enough at a distance that you almost admire his loyalty to Costello. DiCaprio, who in my eyes will never fully recover from "Titanic," at least manages to glaze over his early career with a performance that is both powerful and emotional. A man with duel personas, this role required him to act as two different people, and he manages to pull it off in a manner both convincing and complete. What can I say about Jack Nicholson? It's been a long time since he has had the opportunity to play basically true evil, but it appears he's not out of practice. As Frank Costello, he manages to add ruthless and efficient to his retinue of bad guy personas. Jack's a treat, whenever he manages to find his way onscreen. The bottom line: This one gets a very solid A. Do yourself a favor and make your way to the theater. It's worth the 10 bucks for the ticket to see this year's Best Picture winner before it even gets nominated. Marty, good luck at the Oscars this year. I'll be cheering for you – and I won't be alone. http://www.unlvrebelyell.com/article.php?ID=9787

The "M" word again: http://www.wbir.com/life/movies/reviews/story.aspx?storyid=38532

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by joe lawler juice movie reviewer http://www.dmjuice.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20061009/JUICE04/61009013 10/09/2006 Martin Scorsese deserves an Oscar. He doesn't deserve it to to honor his early works, which were ignored by the Academy. He doesn't deserve it for his solid, but not spectacular work on "The Aviator" and "Gangs of New York." He deserves it for "The Departed," which is easily the best film (so far) of 2006. The film follows two fresh-from-the-academy cops as their lives move in oddly different directions. Leonard DiCaprio plays Billy Costigan, a south Boston boy whose family has deep connections to organized crime. Billy wants to go straight, but his supervisors see his past as a chance to plant someone deep cover with Irish mobster Frank Costello (Jack Nicholson). Also new to the force is Colin Sullivan (Matt Damon) a seemingly good kid who was shaped by Costello to be a mole in the police department. Jack Nicholson often plays Jack Nicholson, but the role of Frank Costello is as close as Nicholson has come to completely losing himself in a role in recent memory. There are parts of the role that are undeniably Jack: his charm, his wit, some mannerisms. On the other hand, it is by far the most evil role Nicholson has ever played. Keep in mind that he once played the devil. The movie really belongs to Damon and DiCaprio. DiCaprio is incredible as a man who is stuck in a dark cloud with seemingly no silver lining in sight. He has to do horrible things in the name of a greater good, and DiCaprio really makes you feel that Billy is being torn in two. Damon plays Colin like a younger, slicker version of Costello. He's Costello's man, but he clearly has ambitions that reach far beyond Frank's mob ties. As they get deeper into their roles, it becomes that Colin could be a good guy if he wanted, and that Billy could be very bad. In their own way, both are strangely devoted to a man who would kill them without a second thought. The supporting roles are excellent as well. Mark Wahlberg and Alec Baldwin inject some much needed humor into a very heavy film. Relative newcomer Vera Farmiga turns in a strong performance is a psychiatrist who develops feelings for Colin and Billy. DiCaprio and Nicholson are locks for acting nominations, but "The Departed" is the film that should end Scorsese's always-a-bridesmaid streak. It ranks with "Taxi Driver," "Mean Streets" and "Raging Bull" as one of his best works. It's epic, full of surprises and one of the best crime dramas in recent yea