DIRECTOR- Martin Scorcese (of "The Aviator", "Gangs of New York", "Raging Bull" fame)
ACTORS- Jack Nicholson, Leonardo DiCaprio, Matt Damon, Mark Wahlberg, Martin Sheen, Alec Baldwin.
"The Departed" is a violent, blood curdling, action packed, hugely amusing, two hour joyride!. It might seem bizarre to combine "violent" and "amusing" in the same sentence...but this movie DOES combine the two, and very successfully at that!
PLOT- Its a good guys versus bad guys story...except the good guys arent all good, and the bad guys arent all bad! The action is based in Boston, and centers around mafia crime lord Frank Costello (Jack Nicholson), his team of men, and the cops that are after him. The "good guys" or cops are..Cpt Queenan (Martin Sheen), Srgt Dignam (Mark Wahlberg), Cpt Ellerby (Alec Baldwin), Colin Sullivan (Matt Damon)...except Sullivan is NOT really a good guy....while he is a cop, he’s a mole, actually working for Costello.
Meanwhile, Costello has got his own gang of thugs, one of whom is Costigan (Leonardo DiCaprio)...except Costigan is NOT really a thug either...he’s a mole as well, a cop working undercover to get Costello arrested.
The rest of the story is about how it isnt easy being a mole.....whether you’re working for a gangster or the cops! Both Costigan and Sullivan wrestle constantly with the fear of being found out, with the fear of being killed, and the fear of losing their identities. They are unaware of each other for most of the film, although they are both fairly similar people, from similar backgrounds, both trained as cops, are even in love with the same woman.... although they dont know it. Their survival depends on identifying each other and eliminating the other. Who dies and who survives? You have to watch the movie to find out.
MY TAKE-
"The Departed" is based on the Hong Kong blockbuster "Infernal Affairs". I watched that movie back in 2003, and the Departed is pretty much a scene to scene copy of the plot. While the Departed didnt hold a lot of surprises for me in terms of the plot, it is still a very good film. The Hong Kong version was somewhat like a bollywood flick...exaggerating emotions and violence, with a sad and heavy background score playing whenever somebody dies. "The Departed", instead, is very much a cut and dried gangster film...it assumes you are used to watching tons of violence and doesnt apologise for the amount of blood spilled.
Another refreshing change is the generous dose of humour present in the film, largely due to the great dialogues spouted by Mark Wahlberg’s character. His character is snippy, and always trying to cut someone down to size, with Alec Baldwin’s character often being a perfect foil.
Apart from the humour, this movie boasts of fine performances as well. Jack Nicholson, playing a very in character, devilish Costello; DiCaprio all grown up, turning in a mature, nuanced performance as the tormented mole; and Matt Damon being competent as always as the ambitious, evil mole.
All you movie buffs in India, make sure you watch this film. I predict we wont have many more good Hollywood flicks released here till after the Oscars next year......unless of course you’re happy watching endless animated flicks. So catch this one ASAP, before it makes way for some soppy film in the theatres!