FanUnity B(uzz)log

“The Departed” will ultimately go down as the movie that earned Martin Scorsese that Oscar that had long been denied him. My guess is that is all “The Departed” will really be remembered for over time, though, as it isn’t what you would call a classic, even though it is a very good film.

Its really outstanding feature is how good its cast is. First off, Leonardo DiCaprio deserves one of these lifetime achievement type Oscars that Martin Scorsese got because this guy is just flat out phenomenal in everything he is in, this included. Matt Damon, Alec Baldwin, Mark Wahlberg, Martin Sheen and Jack Nicholson are all excellent in this story of the intertwined world of Irish cops and Irish crooks in Boston.

“The Departed” weaves its story around the contrasts between two Irish-American police academy graduates: Eddie Costigan (DiCaprio), who was always in trouble as a kid but is an honest cop and clean-cut Colin Sullivan (Damon) who looks every bit the perfect officer but is dirty. As they both work with mob boss Frank Costello (Nicholson) and seduce police psychologist Madolyn (Vera Farmiga), their true character is revealed and juxtaposed. The movie drags on for a bit at the end, when it goes into an almost vertigo inducing series of plot twists.

That Martin Scorsese won the directing Oscar for “The Departed”, and that the film itself won Best Picture, speaks to two things: one, that it was a bit of a lifetime achievement award for Scorsese; and two, the nominated competition wasn’t that great. “Apocalytpo” was a much better film, for example, but Hollywood hates the man who the character at the center of another 2006 film better than “The Departed” (Borat) calls “Mr. Melvin Gibsons.” Regardless, “The Departed” was a very good film and if “Borat” and “Apocalytpo” weren’t going to be considered for Best Picture of the year, I can’t think of a better deserving candidate.

4/5 Stars.