The Departed

One of the strongest aspects of any film is that it has a strong cast behind it to support it throughout any rough spots. Several films end up relying on the strength of the actors to cover up bad writing, or bad direction. After finally buying a ticket and seeing The Departed, I began to think about this concept.

Directed by the well known and established Martin Scorsese, this story brings us to the Boston crime underworld. Billy Costigan (DiCaprio) is an undercover police officer assigned to infiltrate the notorious crime boss Frank Costello (Nicholson.) He is recruited by Special Ops Commissioner Queenen (Marin Sheen) and lieutenant Dignam (Mark Wahlberg.) Of course, this wouldn’t be any normal crime story without multiple moles within the organizations. Police Chief Ellerby (Alec Baldwin) assigns Colin Sullivan (Matt Damon,) a respected Boston police officer, to find the mole within the organization. Now, take a moment and look at that cast.

With such a cast, I thought for sure that the film was not going to let me down. And even though it seemed like each moment was filled with something enjoyable, there was always something missing. I’ll admit, I’m not a huge fan of Scorsese’s work, and I tried hard not to let that influence my demeanor throughout the 152 minutes. Trust me when I say there’s a lot to smile about when it comes to this film.

It’s been nearly 10 years since DiCaprio sank to the bottom of the ocean floor as Jack Dawson in Titanic. And believe me when I say he’s come a long way. By far, Leonardo DiCaprio delivers one of his most powerful performances ever. As the troubled undercover officer, he has no one to trust, no one to confide in, and no one to even confirm his existence. Falling in love with his psychologist Madolyn (Vera Farnuga) we as an audience feel the true pain of being abandoned. Watching a strong character break down from relentless stress and pressure is arguably one of the best attributes of film, and DiCaprio executes flawlessly. His performance, coupled with the one-liner, sass mouthed, almost cameo appearances from Wahlberg, and the talent of Matt Damon, this film seems to execute itself perfectly.

Why, then, does it feel that something is missing? Jack Nicholson is doing his usual ‘nasty guy’ shtick, and Scorsese’s direction seems to be spot on (at least, to his defined style.) The editing is solid (again, to the style of Scorsese, which could very quickly get on the nerves of some,) and the visuals were somewhat creative. Overall, this film is well rounded, and tempered to produce enjoyable reactions.

It must be one thing then: the story. With the amount of twists, and turns involved with this film, I reserve comments as spoilers. But it seemed to me that there were obvious problems with the story. We’ve all seen cop flicks, especially set in Boston. I think that’s where the problem comes from. We’ve all seen cop flicks over and over. We’ve seen flicks with twists and turns and secrets and subplots hidden within subplots. This screenplay, though offering golden lines from Wahlberg and DiCaprio never seems to offer something new to the table. One of the most important things about doing a very heavily stylized film is to make sure that it has that little bit of zing to keep us interested in the genre. With CSIs, Law and Order, SVUs, and Without a Trace, the genre is flooded. And unfortunately, The Departed never seems to bring anything we haven’t already seen on weeks of television. Yes, the actors bring a powerful aspect to this film, with their years of combined talent, and growing expertise, but it’s not enough to diversify this film from most. Scorsese’s brutal murder scenes and graphic depiction of the crime world just isn’t enough to pull us from the usual.

Check this film out if it’s still playing in the theater: it’s worth the $6.50. It’s a good film, just not as good as everyone has been praising it to be. Be careful of powerful casts with strong direction: they sometimes cover up things that we as an audience otherwise wouldn’t tolerate. 7.5 of 10.