The Departed

Grade: B+

“Goodfellas” meets “Prince of the City” meets “Hamlet” in Martin Scorsese’s latest cat and mouse cop and mobster thriller.

Leonardo DiCaprio and Matt Damon are equally fine (and charismatic) as two undercover operatives on completely different sides of the gangster fire wall. One a police academy graduate corrupted in his youth by a mob boss (a solidly predictable Jack Nicholson), the other a police academy graduate paying through the nose for the bad name of his family. Both terrified of being caught, Damon pays with impotence while DiCaprio pops sedatives. One the emotional introvert and one the emotional extrovert, one the charmer and one the tormented, they are both so exceptional the only minor frustration is they don’t share enough screen time together.

Scorsese is back in his well-worn element, always welcome if unavoidably derivative. Few do mobsters and crooked cops better than Scorsese and, unlike his recent films, he directs with an assured yet unembellished style. If Damon’s trajectory is a touch too reminiscent of Ray Liotta’s in “Goodfellas,” and if Nicholson gives Joe Pesci a run for his depravedly nutcase money, this tale of two moles consistently crisscrossing each other and always a hair’s breath away from discovery is a thrillingly fun ride. Blood ghoulishly gushes from ever pore (Brian DePalma would be proud), inert bodies fall artfully from very tall buildings, people get abruptly and unpredictably blown to smithereens, while still others rally themselves “Scarface” style. And did I mention all that blood? Red is the only color on Scorsese’s palette this time around, and a sense of rich, dark humor permeates.

Martin Sheen is downright unpresidential but effectively parental as the head of a Special Investigations Unit, Mark Wahlberg one-note as a hot-headed second banana and Alec Baldwin a little too stereotypically cop-on-the-beat to be of interest. Scorsese’s setup is simultaneously overpacked and underdeveloped, and the saga is self-importantly stretched over 2½ deliberately paced hours. Note to all future Mafioso-inclined screenwriters: the use of Opera metaphor is a grandiose cliché that is always unwelcome and seldom effective. But the film is also full of both subtle and jarring surprises, rich character interaction and nuance, and double-identity intrigue and pathos.

Scene: Damon uses a dead cop’s cell phone to track his nemesis. DiCaprio hesitatingly answers. Long moments pass. One waits for the other to identify himself. The silence is palpable and painful. Scorsese is in his filmmaking glory, and so, more than occasionally in this meticulously crafted potboiler, are we.

More Movie Info: http://imdb.com/title/tt0407887/