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Tuesday, 21 November 2006 15:06 |
| | Meg Hale |
Director Martin Scorsese has been ignored by the Academy for decades, causing much grief from his fans. He has been nominated for six Oscars from 1980 to 2005 and has never won. Will his latest movie, "The Departed" be the one that finally brings him the recognition he so richly deserves? Well, it is certainly my favorite of his films. In fact, I think "The Departed" is the best police/mob suspense/drama I have ever come across.
The story is basically a tale of dueling moles. It is the story of South Boston Irish mob-boss Frank Costello, who is under investigation by both the local police as well as the FBI. Nervous that the cops are getting too close, Costello plants a spy in the police department. Likewise, the FBI sends a rookie cop in to join Costelloës gang and leak to them. In the end, itës a race to see which mole will expose the other mole first.
Costello
is remarkably played by veteran actor Jack Nicholson ("As Good As it
Gets"). Nicholson plays Costello in a strange and disturbing way, but
heës endearing and darn-near adorable. Though he is the villain,
Costello is probably the character I cared most about in the film. No
one is particularly surprised by this, since Nicholson has been
brilliant in nearly every role heës ever played, but I was surprised by
the performances Scorsese managed to coax out of other members of the
cast, whoës acting abilities donët always blow me away.
Leonardo
DiCaprio ("Titanic") plays Billy Costigan, the mole for the feds.
DiCaprio hasnët impressed me since his early role in "Whatës Eating
Gilbert Grape?" in any film other than those directed by Scorsese. I
regarded him as one of those ǃÚpretty boyë actors, until I saw him play
Howard Hughes in "The Aviator" and it occurred to me that he might have
something to offer. DiCaprio fits nicely into this role and is
sympathetic, tough, cool and believable throughout. He is more or less
the hero of the movie and I had no difficulty riding through this movie
with him.
Costelloës spy,
Colin Sullivan, is played by Matt Damon ("Good Will Hunting"). Damon
never quite did it for me either. I always found him somewhat cocky and
slimy, thereby hard-to-believe in sensitive-guy roles. In "The
Departed," Damon plays a character that is kind of cocky and slimy, so
I thought he did a great job.
The supporting
cast is fantastic. Martin Sheen ("Apocalypse Now") is wonderful as the
head FBI agent and is amply backed by Mark Wahlberg ("Boogie Nights")
as the agent under him. Newcomer Vera Farmiga ("Dummy") proves she is
destined for a nice career, playing the love interest Madolyn. My
favorite supporting role was that of Alec Baldwin (Beetlejuice") as the
frustrated chief of police.
Baldwinës talent seems to shine best
through monologue-ing cameo roles in suspense dramas.
While the cast
of the film is a great deal of fun in itself, by far the best part of
the movie was the dialogue. This film is so beautifully written by Siu
Fai Mak and William Monahan. Mak actually wrote and directed the
Chinese film on which "The Departed" was based, called "Mou Gaan Dou"
aka "Infernal Affairs."
The lines are
witty, the insults hilarious and the plot incredibly compelling. With
the exception of one out-of-place cocaine scene that probably should
have been edited and a couple of loose ends at the climax of the film,
I found "The Departed" to be a perfect piece, dramatically.
The music is
fantastic, the action and chase scenes are great, and the end surprised
me about seven times I strongly recommend this movie. It does contain
some impressively strong language and adult situations. This is not a
movie to take the kids to.
Scorsese has
made so many amazing pictures, that I donët know if one could call "The
Departed" the proverbial jewel in his crown, but it is good enough that
I donët think anyone would blink twice at it winning him an Oscar or
two. I give it five and a half of my six planets.
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