The Departed

UK Release Date. 6 October 2006
Certification. 18
Running Time. 2 hours 31 mins
Director. Martin Scorsese
Cast. Anthony Anderson, Alec Baldwin, Matt Damon, Leonardo DiCaprio, Vera Farmiga, Jack Nicholson, Martin Sheen, Mark Wahlberg, Ray Winstone.
Rating. 79%

Review.

The Departed was the film that finally won Martin Scorsese the Best Director Academy Award. Nominated five times previously - for Raging Bull, The Last Temptation Of Christ, Goodfellas, Gangs Of New York and The Aviator - and a further three times following on from The Departed - Hugo, The Wolf Of Wall Street and The Irishman, the veteran filmmaker remarkably still only has one Academy Award. Considering Scorsese's back catalogue, this is a travesty.

In some ways, I find it surprising that The Departed was the film that secured the award, as The Departed is essentially a remake of a super-stylish thriller, Infernal Affairs, released a mere four years earlier. I would have thought Taxi Driver, Goodfellas or Casino would have been more worthy recipients of the Academy Award.

Screenplay writer, William Monahan translates Andrew Lau and Alan Mak's Infernal Affairs verbatim, but relocates the action from Hong Kong to Boston. Leonardo DiCaprio plays Billy Costigan, an undercover policeman entrenched deep in organised crime, and Matt Damon is Colin Sullivan, an undiscovered mole within the police department. Both are trying to identify the other one. Both are trapped in circumstances where the boundaries of right and wrong are blurred. Both are, ultimately, trying to anxiously impress surrogate father figures.

Whilst DiCaprio and Damon bring their A-game to The Departed, they are woefully let down by the supporting cast. Alec Baldwin, Mark Wahlberg and Jack Nicholson would seem to believe more is better, creating caricatures rather than characters. Jack Nicholson is responsible for some of the stand-out performances of the 1970s - Jake Gittes in Chinatown, Randle Patrick McMurphy in One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest and Jack Torrance in The Shining. But his self-indulgent portrayal of the Irish-American mob boss, Frank Costello almost derails The Departed. His oversized persona and over-the-top performance infects the entire film.

Notwithstanding, The Departed remains an entertaining film. Not quite the American crime classic of Goodfellas, Casino or The Wolf Of Wall Street, but a film that unashamedly sits amidst Scorsese's impressive body of work. But I can't help thinking that I'd quite like to track down Infernal Affairs.