I'm as guilty of anyone of ripping movie remakes on general principle alone. It's clear though that remakes need not be bad or pointless. Occasionally they can go toe to toe with the original or even exceed it. The Departed is just such a film.
If you speak well of this film in public you will eventually encounter someone who objects loudly and belligerently that this film is just a shadow of the original Hong Kong movie Infernal Affairs. Forgive them their vociferous assault. It's endlessly trendy to sing the praises of Hong Kong films. For one thing, most Americans have never seen them, thus imparting instant coolness on the objector simply for having seen these rare foreign gems. There is also the instant credibility associated with bashing Hollywood movies. And often that prejudice is deserved. But when the best of Hollywood's rebels, indies and auteurs align themselves behind such a remake, that sort of of knee jerk criticism starts to sound hollow. Certainly Infernal Affairs is a fine film but director Martin Scorsese has collected a spectacular cast and crew to take another stab at the material. The cast is pure A-list with Jack Nicholson, Leonardo DiCaprio, Matt Damon, Martin Sheen, Mark Wahlberg and Alec Baldwin. Add the lesser known but still excellent Ray Winstone, Anthony Anderson and Vera Farmiga and you have a cast that crackles with talent. Working behind the scenes are screenwriter William Monahan, long time Scorsese editor Thelma Schoonmaker and cinematographer Michael Ballhaus. Whether you know these names or not, they vary in strength from really good to legendary. This is not the cast and crew you assemble for a cheap knock off.
The story centers around three men. At the center is mob boss Frank Costello (Nicholson). We first meet him a couple decades in the past, perpetually shrouded in darkness, going about his business of being scary as hell. Seemingly on a whim, he helps out a poor kid, Colin Sullivan (Damon), who grows up and joins the Massachusetts State Troopers, where he serves as Frank's mole. Also entering the ranks of the police at that point is William Costigan (DiCaprio), a kid with good intentions but a disreputable family background. Costigan is recruited by his bosses Queenan (Sheen) and Dignam (Wahlberg) to work undercover infiltrating Frank's inner circle. He succeeds, painfully, setting up a situation where the cops and criminals have their own moles, who eventually become aware of each other and have to find out who the other is. Complicating matters is the police therapist Madolyn (Farmiga) who each rat falls for.
Scorsese is on familiar ground here and gleefully shows no restraint, cranking scenes for their maximum effect, be it bloody, funny or merely tense. You won't find many films these days that are anywhere near as profane or blood spattered as this one. The camera is energetic and active, giving even the simplest scenes considerable energy. The editing is equally energetic, jumping around in time and place, often leaping back and forth between parallel events for Sullivan and Costigan to highlight far more about their situations than would be possible in a more straight forward style. One of the great joys of this film is the way all of its technicians really works their craft to elevate every little element of the story to the level of art. Scorsese plays the conductor, keeping them all in time and inspiring their best work.
That idea extends to the actors, who clearly revel in the complex playground they've been given to play in. DiCaprio gives one of his best performances to date, playing the role of a man hiding his true identity in such a way that he can show his emotions to the audience while hiding them from those around him. Under intense pressure, his character is slowly coming unhinged and DiCaprio shows that very clearly but under control, as you would expect from someone trying to do a very dangerous job while never being able to give any hint of that. You can see the cracks forming and the panic starting to show as he just barely holds himself together.
On the flip side is Damon, who plays off his All-American looks to give us a guy who seems squeaky clean unless you look really closely and notice just how much his eyes dart nervously around or just how often he subtly double takes at every unexpected bit of news.
And right in the middle is Nicholson, who tends to own the screen like no other actor alive. This is no exception as he gets to play pure evil. Costello is unrepentantly evil character. This is a guy who shoots a woman in the back of the head point blank and chuckles about the way the body fell. He's been playing all the angles successfully so long he no longer needs to do it for any reward. He just does it for the fun. Nicholson plays that better than anyone. He might be occasionally guilty of going a bit over the top but mostly stays in control, giving Costello just the right note of delight in being wicked.
The rest of the cast holds its own against the main characters just fine. Mark Wahlberg steals scenes left and right with his foul mouthed cantankerous cop. Baldwin is all cock sure swagger, livening up his every scene with unpretentious pomposity. Particularly notable is the largely unknown Vera Farmiga, who takes a thankless role as the lone woman of any importance in the story and manages to favorably impress against the high wattage stars with far better written roles.
The Departed is relentlessly entertaining while being plenty intelligent and meaningful. Rarely does Scorsese take on such a commercial project but it works so seemingly effortlessly that we could easily wish he'd do it more often. Most critics will bury it in backhanded compliments as they try not to appear too impressed with such a slick Hollywood affair. Don't let them fool you though. This is the rare movie that can be equally pleasing to the mainstream audience and the snooty critics.
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