Movie Review - The Departed

By Chris Sarcletti

A funny thing happened as I sat there, engaged, somewhere near the last quarter of Martin Scorsese’s 150 minute film, The Departed. I thought to myself, this is a really good film. I didn’t say great though. The thing is, how a movie begins and how it ends really defines its “greatness”. That said, I knew I was in for a hell of a film after the first 5 minutes. Actually, the first one. I was engrossed with what I was watching completely after a minute and as soon as I walked out of the film, the first thought that came to my mind was, ‘I can’t wait to see that movie again.’ Actually, that was my 2nd thought. I will get to the first a bit later.

This movie has balls. Plain and simple. Everything about it does. Fortunately you don’t need to have balls to appreciate it. This is a vintage Scorsese film in the same class as Mean Streets, Taxi Driver, Raging Bull, Goodfellas and Casino. Marty doesn’t hold back anything, not that you would expect him to. This is the kind of film where you don’t question whether someone is dead when they get shot, you know they are. There won’t be any last words because those words are tough to say when you have a bullet lodged in your brain. Jack Nicholson gives a BIG performance. He is over the top in every conceivable way. Actually, all the performances are over the top and they are all fantastic. Matt Damon and Leonardo DiCaprio show why they can hold stage with a great actor like Nicholson and not give up a fucking inch. While I am on the subject, Alec Baldwin and Mark Wahlberg don’t give up much either and are both very entertaining.

This is a Boston story. Maybe that is why the characters have such big personalities. This is a story of two cops who fall on opposite sides of the law although there is much gray area in the middle. However this is really a story about the mob and revolves around an egotistical, devilish and very entertaining crime boss named Frank Costello, played by Nicholson. Damon and DiCaprio are his protégés/cops and Baldwin, Wahlberg and Martin Sheen also plays cops of one degree or another. There are a lot of cops in this movie and there is a lot of crime and a lot of violence. There is good character development and a relationship between Damon’s character and a psychiatrist who works for the police force to soften the violent undertones of the film but Martin doesn’t really try and soften it too much. If he did, it wouldn’t be a Scorsese film. He doesn’t pull punches and doesn’t hold back anything and that is precisely why those of us who revere him do so much so.

At the beginning of this review, I alluded to my first thoughts after I walked out of the Departed. The Departed is the type of film that makes you feel like a man. The first thing I wanted to do after I exited the theater was walk into a bar, find the first stool available and order a hard drink. A triple whiskey sounds about right. After drinking that in one big gulp, I would slam the glass on the bar. The first jack off that made a comment would prompt me to pick up that glass and break it over his fucking head. After this incident, I would walk out of the bar without looking back to see if the guy got up and was coming after me because I wouldn’t need to. He wasn’t getting up.

Ok, maybe I am angry and maybe that is just me. Fortunately, I didn’t act on my feelings.

Like I said, this movie has balls.