DVD Movie Review :: Martin Scorsese - The Departed :: Entertainment.WebWorlds-One.com ::

The film stars a whole slew of A-List actors doing what they do best, trying to out play each other in a giant game of who’s scarier. Jack Nicholson plays an incredible Frank Costello, crime boss and underworld kingpin of Boston, whose protégé Sullivan (Matt Damon) infiltrates the special investigations unit of the Boston PD. On the opposite side, the Boston PD takes a young recruit who grew up on the wrong side of the tracks and whose father used to have mob ties himself, Billy Costigan (Leonardo DiCaprio) and plant him within Costello’s operation. The film is a race to see which side can out the other side’s mole first and come out on top.

The performances are only a small part of this film’s genius. Adapted from a Hong Kong trilogy of films, Infernal Affairs, The Departed is one hundred percent American in its depiction of underground crime and police infighting. Martin Sheen as Captain Queenan and Mark Wahlberg as Sargeant Dignum are a perfect pair of on again off again angry, helpful cops trying to finally put away a man who’s eluded them their entire careers.

Scorsese, never one to pull punches, doesn’t start doing so here. This is by far one of the bloodiest films of the year, full of some of the most realistic deaths to hit the screen since Saving Private Ryan. The realism of the exploding skull aside, it’s all done within context and thus as a necessary ploy of the story. There are no random explosions and gunfights in this film. Yet, it’s still as taught and engaging as any big budget Hollywood thriller of the day.

As it releases on DVD and the masses are given a chance to once again revel in Scorsese’s crime driven genius, the film stands to win any of five Oscars, including Best Picture and Best Director, and is the highest grossing Scorsese film of all time at the box office. For those that wondered what happened after Gangs of New York and The Aviator (great films, but not Scorsese’s best), this is it, the return to full form of an auteur of the Crime Drama Epic.

This film rightfully takes its place alongside his other greats.

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