"The Departed" Review

Even though I respect Martin Scorcese as a film director, I have felt that a number of his films weren't up to the level of his reputation ("The Color of Money", "Casino", even "The Aviator"). He always seemed to be riding on the coattails of "Taxi Driver" and that is leverage for some of his more cumbersome outings. Don't get me wrong. I do like some of Scorcese's films ("The King of Comedy" and "Raging Bull" come to mind), but this is back to the Scorcese of form for me.

I was cautious because pretty-boy Leonardo DiCaprio has become Scorcese's star of choice, but he always does a credible acting job, and this saves the picture. I saw the film to see Jack Nicholson, who does a credible job playing...well, Jack Nicholson. Who can fault him? Nicholson is a ham like William Shatner, but a very, very good one!

The story takes place in a South Boston Police Department headed up by Martin Sheen and his cohort Mark Wahlberg. The "tough-as-nails" attitude allows Matt Damon to become an agent, but keeps DiCaprio out, until Sheen and Wahlberg come up with an idea to use DiCaprio to sniff out Nicholson and his gang.

The story is essentially credible. I say essentially because it utilizes annoying tricks like having computer type font in about 100 point type and everything goes *beep* *boop*. That's being nit-picky. What I like the most is that at 2 1/2 hours, the story moves along and has quite a few twists, turns and surprises. I won't reveal any of those here, just recommend that you go see...and in a theater for the best experience.

Regards,
MARK ARNOLD
Fun Ideas Productions - P. O. Box 2616 - Saratoga, CA 95070
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