...the best thing the director has done in years.
None of this is to say the rest of the cast do any less than DiCaprio. The actors--Nicholson, Damon, Martin Sheen, Wahlberg, Alex Baldwin--completely inhabit the characters and the world in which they live. Just about the only gripe anyone can have is with Nicholson's Boston accent, or, more precisely, the way it fades in and out during the film. There are certain words that sound "Bostonian," but on the whole, this is Jack being Jack.
All of that being said, "The Departed" is a film that demands constant audience attention. Without it, the various twists and turns will fly in one ear and out the other. Why? There are numerous subplots: Who knows who, how they know each other, the various sides everyone is on, and why they pledge their allegiance the way they do. While the acting is one of the reasons to spend two-and-a-half hours with "The Departed," it's not the only one. Again, as I said before, in the interest of not spoiling what is a wild movie, we're going to talk about the plot in general terms.
First off is the final 15 minutes. Unless you've seen the film on which "The Departed" is based ("Wu jian dao or, internationally, "Infernal Affairs"), it might be a shock. Really, when you think about it, there isn't any other way the film can end. This is a story about people who lie, murder, cheat, steal; they are duplicitous and looking out for only their best interests. While some of them have honorable intentions (such as Costigan), others are clearly doing the wrong thing for the right reason. A case in point is Sullivan. He jeopardizes his entire career and his future by feeding information to Frank. Why? Because Frank was a father figure when Colin was young. Loyalty is to be admired, and foolish allegiances when you know something is wrong is nothing more than folly.
Second is the execution of the story by director Scorsese. He doesn't tell us what to think of the various players in the drama by employing ominous camera angles or "villainous" lighting. Now, we're left to make our own decisions as to what to think about the characters. And he doesn't take any shots at our current political climate, save for a chuckle at the expense of the Patriot Act. Additionally, the movie takes place in Boston, not the director's favorite milieu of New York (ironically, the movie was mostly shot in the Empire State, though). It deals only minimally with religion, another Scorsese hallmark. Everything the camera does is steady and designed to make the narrative as straightforward for the audience as possible. A lesser director might have tried something a bit different to make the audience ooh and aah. Not here. Every shot is grounded in reality and nearly every shot comes from the vantage point of a person watching on the sidelines.
However, as gripping and Oscar-worthy as "The Departed" is, it's not flawless. I'm perfectly willing to let a contrivance or two go by in the interest of forwarding the plot. But when a main character who has been as careful as possible through the film to cover his tracks leaves a damning piece of evidence lying on a desk where another character can find it, it's a plot device, not an event that evolves organically from the story. I also felt one of the shocking moments halfway through the film was contrived, along with the requisite fallout. Watch for the swan dive off a roof and then a rather pointless scuffle for a computer code. Extraneous, really, and something that could have been edited out.
In that swan dive, you have to wonder why said character goes to this location by himself. Yes, he has a position of authority and should be able to take care of himself. But he doesn't tell anyone where's he going and heads off into a seedy part of town without any backup. Why? Of course, it's a function of the plot. This person needs to exit stage left with everything he knows, leaving someone else in a bit of a bind. It's convenient that one of the two people with the truth dies off and the other removes himself from the situation shortly thereafter. (Yes, yes, I know this is a remake and has source material to stick to. It doesn't mean I have to like it.)
I hesitate to mention anything about the ending at this particular time. It is a severe mind trip in every which way, and it comes out of left field. From what we know in the preceding two hours, this person should not do the thing he does. But it does happen, and it left at least my viewing group scratching their heads. Vengeance or rat? I still can't tell you.
Normally, a contrived or trite ending totally destroys a movie for me, but whatever issues I might have with it does not discount what has come before. And the confluence of acting, writing, directing, and production is a pleasure to behold on all levels. This is another feather in the directing cap of Scorsese and has put him in the running for a Best Director Oscar. A rock-solid cast, a script that knows when it should be humorous, and some jarring moments make "The Departed" one of the best pictures of the year. Definitely an 8 out of 10, but not for the squeamish.
Video:
Thank you, Jason. Now, about the picture quality. In short, it's very good. The movie's original aspect ratio, 2.40:1, is here rendered at about 2.21:1 across my television, a pretty decent widescreen size. Then, using a very high bit rate, the WB engineers produce a fine anamorphic image. Colors are deep enough to look on a par with high definition, and these hues are reasonably natural, too, if sometimes a bit glossy and bright. Moreover, a fine grain gives the picture an added degree of texture. Cap all of this off with good object delineation, with very little blur or smear and only a touch of softness, and you get above-average video.
Audio:
The Dolby Digital 5.1 sonics offer up very wide dynamics and very strong transient impact, making not only gunshots and punches to the head stand out vividly but rendering dialogue as clean and crisp as you could want it. Bass is deep when needed, but, surprisingly, there is little in the way of surround sound. The front speakers, left and right, handle ambient noises well enough, but there is little information fed to the rear channels. Nevertheless, when the surrounds are called upon to do their occasional work, they do it comfortably.
Extras:
Disc one contains the widescreen presentation of the film; English, French, and Spanish spoken languages; English, French, and Spanish subtitles; thirty-seven scene selections; and a widescreen theatrical trailer. At start-up only there are previews for "The Painted Veil," "The Reaping," and "Blood Diamond."
Disc two is where you'll find the background material, the greater part of it being about the director rather than about the film. First, there is a twenty-minute featurette, "Stranger Than fiction: The True Story of Whitey Bulger, Southie and the Departed." As I mentioned earlier, screenwriter William Monahan based much of his script for "The Departed" not only on "Infernal Affairs" but on the real-life gangster James "Whitey" Bulger, who terrorized South Boston for the better part of three decades in the 1970s, 80s, and early 90s. Interestingly, in an interview with Bulger's priest, the priest says he had no idea Bulger was a killer. Uh-huh. Next, there is a feature-length TCM documentary, "Scorsese on Scorsese," eighty-five minutes long and divided into seventeen chapters. Richard Schickel wrote, produced, and directed it in 2004. It presents some informative glimpses into the director's career, thoughts, and intentions, but for me the best part was Scorsese's American Express card commercial. After that is a twenty-four-minute featurette, "Crossing Criminal Cultures," in which Scorsese compares his gangster films with celebrated movies of an earlier time, like the old "Scarface," "Public Enemy," "Little Caesar," "The Roaring Twenties," and "White Heat." After that, there are nine deleted scenes, totaling nineteen minutes, each scene with its own introduction by Scorsese. Most of these scenes are pretty good, particularly an extended death scene, but in a film I already thought was too long, I can understand their deletion.
As a final bonus, the double, slim-line disc case comes housed in an attractive slipcover. This is, after all, a prestige product.
Parting Thoughts:
"The Departed" is no "Goodfellas." It lacks the earlier film's raw energy and gutsy approach to mid-level gangsterism. But "The Departed" offers something else: Suspense. And not a little ambiguity. We really don't know who to root for at times, as Scorsese takes us ever closer to the criminal mind, forcing us to sympathize in a way with both hero and villain. Although "The Departed" does not quite make it into the highest echelon of Scorsese films occupied by the likes of "Goodfellas," "Taxi Driver," and "Raging Bull," it is the best thing the director has done in years.
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