You dirty rat! (The Departed (DVD))

Member Name: SWSt

Product:	The Departed (DVD)
Date:	08/01/07 (406 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Excellent crime drama, good characters and interaction

Disadvantages: Slightly too long, some unnecessary characters, lots of bad language

(Film only review)

What’s it about?
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A corrupt cop is given the task of finding out who is leaking information to local crimelord Frank Costello – despite the fact he is the leak! Meanwhile, another cop is sent deep undercover to find information on Costello’s activities.

Who’s in it?
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The cast has been billed as the dream team of Jack Nicholson, Matt Damon and Leonardo DiCaprio. Whilst certainly a very good cast, it somehow doesn’t quite live up to expectations.

Leonardo DiCaprio plays Will Costigan, a policeman from a bad family who is selected to go deep undercover to infiltrate Costello’s gang. DiCaprio is very good, bringing a brooding intensity to the role which is highly effective and reminds you that, when he’s not starring in mindless rubbish, he’s actually a pretty good actor. However, he’s less convincing when trying to do “troubled”, such as when he feels his double life is catching up with him. In these scenes he just spends most of the time looking vaguely constipated!

Matt Damon has won huge critical acclaim for his role as Colin Sullivan – the corrupt cop heading up the investigation into Costello’s gang. Damon is perfectly good, but he doesn’t do anything we’ve not seen before. When trying to convince people he’s a good cop, there’s his little angelic smile, whilst when he’s being bad, he brings out “the stare.” It’s a competent enough performance, but just wasn’t as breath-taking as I’d been led to believe.

Finally, of course, there’s Jack! Nicholson is on top form and easily steals the show as charming, but deadly head of the Irish mafia, Frank Costello. Thankfully, Nicholson turns in one of his more restrained performances (although at times, you might find that hard to believe) and is perfectly suited to the tone and style of the film. True, there’s a couple of moments where he hams it up a little, but these moments (the scene in the porn theatre, the “rat” impression in the restaurant) are limited.

Is it any good?
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With The Departed, Scorsese returns to his well known themes of crime and the law. After the disappointing Gangs of New York, it marks a return to form for the best director never to win an Oscar.

Right from the start, the film grips you and pulls you in. It quickly establishes its main themes and sets up an atmosphere that will rarely leave you feeling less than thrilled. True, there’s nothing startlingly original about the film (it is, after all, a remake of Infernal Affairs): its central themes of corrupt cops, nasty villains and double-crossing moles (or “rats” as the film constantly hammers home!) has been done hundreds of times before. However, it’s the way Scorsese weaves the all the elements together that makes it so compelling. He carefully crafts a totally believable world, full of well-rounded characters interacting in a very credible way.

This excellent atmosphere is aided by the plot, which, although complex sounding is actually quite straightforward and easy to follow. That said, Scorsese doesn’t hold your hand and lead you gently into the plot, choosing instead to drop you more or less straight in to it. This is not, however, a criticism. There’s a tiny bit of background for all characters, then it’s straight in. Again, this helps build the atmosphere quickly and very effectively, leaving you with the feeling that the characters have led lives of their own up to this point, and that we are only dropping in on a part of it.

The Boston setting also gives Scorsese the chance to indulge in his usual themes of religion and the examination of society’s idea of good and bad. This helps to make a very atmospheric film, but can also be a little misleading. If you believe The Departed, Boston is made up almost exclusively of priests, nuns, criminals and bent cops! True, most of the priests and nuns are only there as background characters, but you do feel that the symbolism is more heavy handed than in many of Scorsese’s previous films. For example, Damon’s character (an ex-altar boy) lives in an apartment, which just happens to overlook a church. Then, there’s the constant references to “rats” (to imply spies in the camp). Scorsese manages to combine these two key themes in possibly the most unsubtle closing shot in the history of cinema! However, since the film is so good, and Scorsese generally is such an excellent director, I can forgive this little weakness!

The film does, at times, try a little bit too hard to appear complex, with everyone having their own motives and double-crossing everyone else. True, this is probably a natural product of the world these characters inhabit, but at times, slightly unlikely plot twists do seem to have been built in to make things seem little more complex. In particular, one revelation relating to Costello seems very unlikely, given what we have previously seen of the character and, it’s made all the more frustrating that this particular theme is left unresolved and ambiguous.

The Departed is also a little overlong – coming in at just over two and a half hours. In particular, one character – Vera Farmiga’s psychologist is completely superfluous. Farmiga is, of course, there as a love interest, as both Sullivan and Costigan fall for her. However, this is barely explored, and suffers the fatal flaw of there being little chemistry between any of the characters to fuel this potential love triangle. Farmiga’s portrayal of a psychologist is unrealistic and barely believable – some of the things she is forced to say are, frankly, ludicrous and it’s difficult to believe she’s supposed to be a fully trained and highly experienced professional psychiatrist. It’s also not helped by the fact that Farmiga is not a great actress. All the scenes in which she appears could easily have been cut without damaging the film in any way. In fact, it would have improved it by making it more tightly plotted.

Despite its convoluted plot, parts of the film are also tremendously predictable. This is particularly true of the ending where, if you’ve been paying attention for the rest of the film, you’ll know exactly what to expect. You get the impression that Scorsese hopes to provide a bit of a shock ending, but this isn’t really the case. That’s not to say it’s a bad ending, in fact it’s a typical Scorsese finish; it’s just not perhaps as shocking as he seems to think.

Finally, depending on your take on this, you might want to be aware of the content of the film. Whilst there is some violence in it, it’s not actually that bad – although the fact it is limited perhaps makes it more shocking when it does occur. However, the language is extremely bad and this is the real reason for the 18 certificate. The “F” word is used something like 237 times during the film, whilst the “C” word is used around 25 times. If you are offended by bad language, this really is not the film for you!

Conclusion
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A great but flawed from Scorsese. It’s rarely less than gripping and frequently fascinating and thrilling. If only Scorsese had been a little more disciplined in the editing suite, he could have had another masterpiece on his hands.. If there’s any justice, though, he’ll still carry off the Best Director Oscar later this year – even if it’s only a sympathy one recognising the brilliance of his earlier films!

Basic Information
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The Departed
2006
Director: Martin Scorsese
152 minutes
Cert 18

Trivia
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Robert DiNiro was cast as Costello, but had to pull out to work on his directorial debut, The Good Shepherd. Meanwhile, Leonardo DiCaprio was originally due to play the lead in the Good Shepherd, but pulled out to take the role of Costigan in The Departed!

Summary: Will someone please give Marty an Oscar?!