The Departed

Directed by Martin Scorsese, The Departed follows an undercover cop (Leonardo DiCaprio’s Billy Costigan Jr) and a mole (Matt Damon’s Colin Sullivan) as they attempt to identify one another within a powerful mobster’s (Jack Nicholson’s Frank Costello) organization. Filmmaker Scorsese, armed with William Monahan’s screenplay, delivers an overlong yet mostly engrossing thriller that benefits from its assortment of appealing, engrossing attributes, as the movie’s uniformly compelling performances are heightened by Scorsese’s predictably solid visuals and a recurring emphasis on spellbinding sequences – with the top-notch efforts of folks like DiCaprio, Damon, and Nicholson certainly echoed by a terrific supporting cast that includes Ray Winstone, Alec Baldwin, and Mark Wahlberg. (The latter’s endlessly compelling and quotable turn as an irascible cop remains an ongoing highlight within the proceedings, to be sure.) And although the narrative’s periodically convoluted bent, coupled with Scorsese’s less-than-linear approach, does result in a handful of palpable lulls, The Departed builds towards a mostly electrifying climax that ensures the whole thing concludes on just about as stirring and satisfying a note as one could envision – with the end result a first-class effort that improves upon its source material in virtually every way imaginable.

***1/2 out of ****