Film: Dir. Martin Scorsese - The Departed

Dir: Martin Scorsese
The Departed
[Thriller]

One the one hand, The Departed is the kind of movie that makes film makers up and down the country seeth with jealously. Every shot is exact - painstakingly crafted and costing thousands of dollars, the lead actors mostly turn in solid performances and the plot contains a suitable number of twists and turns to keep even the most ardent 24 fan on the edge of their seat. However, it is also produced so appallingly (with one of the most unsatisfying non-endings in recent memory) that any teen with a video camera will be wondering why they can't get a job in Hollywood.

The tagline is perhaps the best way to outline the plot of The Departed without giving too much away. "Cops or criminals - when you're facing a loaded gun, what's the difference?" growls Jack Nicholson in one of the movie's most memorable scenes. Nicholson plays the head of an Irish family business who want to secure a lucrative deal with the Chinese for an exchange of microchip technology. As you might expect, they also kill lots of people along the way with the help of guns, muscle (provided here by a typically gruff Ray Winstone) and sweet talking in restaurants.

However, what sets The Departed apart from run-of-the-mill cops and robbers thrillers is the much-alluded to dichotomy. You see, the cops have a rat inside the mob (a superb Leonardo Di Caprio), and the mob have a rat inside the police force (a predictable Matt Damon). Communications between the rats and their respective groups take place via numerous covert telephone conversations which arouse little or no suspicion, despite the fact that both sides know their ranks have been infiltrated.

At one point, for example, police rat Damon is caught by his boss whispering into a mobile phone and looking painfully secretive in a way that graduates of acting school really shouldn't. However, Damon simply explains that it is his mother on the line, to which his boss (Martin Sheen, still in West Wing mode) fails to react and thus refuses to pursue a blatantly unnatural situation. Nevertheless, Scorsese's direction and strong moments of dialogue ensure that such occasional blips are easily overlooked.

That is, of course, until the aforementioned car crash of an ending. While initially satisfying (for reasons which it would be inappropriate to discuss here), much of the conclusion of the film was clearly left on the cutting room floor and is extremely unsatisfactory considering the calibre of the previous 150 minutes. Loose ends are left hanging, but in a frustrating rather than intriguing manner. Furthermore, the ending does not mesh at all well with the slow, deliberate pacing of the movie.

So, though hampered by minor plot inconsistencies and a disastrous conclusion, The Departed remains a smart, funny, gripping thriller in the rightly revered Scorsese tradition. As a result, it comes highly recommended. 82