The Departed 5/5 reviewed by Corey

The Departed is one of those movies that, when you watch it, you forget you're watching a movie. Whether or not you like Scorsese (The Aviator, Goodfellas) this is a great crime drama that, if you're a relatively smart individual, should keep you more than entertained for two and a half hours.

Ensemble casts are generally very hit or miss. From what I hear, Smokin' Aces was a miss. The Departed is on the lines of Goodfellas. It works. Leonardo DiCaprio (Gangs of New York, Blood Diamond, Catch Me If You Can) is one of the best actors of this younger generation. Matt Damon (The Bourne Identity, Syriana, The Good Shepherd) hasn't yet proven to be totally versatile, but I'll watch anything with him in it because he's just cool and fun to watch. Jack Nicholson (The Shining, Something's Gotta Give, One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest) is one of the best actors of the last generation. Martin Sheen (Apocalpyse Now, Gandhi, Catch Me If You Can) is awesome. Like Matt Damon, I never get bored with Mark Wahlberg (Three Kings, The Italian Job, Boogie Nights). Alec Baldwin, Anthony Anderson, Vera Farmiga. And on and on. What's the best part? The movie is better than the sum of its parts. And the sum of its parts is absolutely phenomenal.

The story is deceptively simple and this will make it sound much more complicated than it reall is. A major crime lord (Nicholson) is close to capture. A corrupt cop in league with that crime lord (Damon) is promoted to work on the case to bring him in. The undercover cop (DiCaprio) who is pretending to be in league with that crime lord is keeping tabs on him. And the rathunt is on.

Everyone turns in great performances. The Scorsese flair is relatively absent from this one, but when it shows up, you'll notice if you know anything about him. The story is great and relatively twist-less, which I really loved. It's an American twist on the Japanese crime drama "Infernal Affairs." The music is good and some really cool tracks make the cut, especially "Comfortably Numb" from Pink Floyd and the always awesome (and especially fitting for this movie) "Gimme Shelter" from the Stones.

It's not overly artsy. There are a couple well-placed shots, but it never takes you out of the story. The end is great. It's graphic and it's surprising (not twisty) and it's quick. And man, is it ever satisfying. Two and a half hours never went so fast. I wholeheartedly recommend it to anyone who enjoys thrillers or crime dramas. If you love movies, I can't imagine you not loving this. Up there with Children of Men for best movie I saw from 2006. Oh, and it's on DVD soon. They recently re-released it in theatres because of the nominations it garnered. It is deserving of all the hype. I'll pay full price for the DVD.

And that's saying something.

SEE this if...
- You enjoy the thinking man's thriller.
- You have any respect for Nicholson, Sheen, DiCaprio, Damon, Wahlberg, or Baldwin.
- You've not experienced a Scorsese movie yet. He's not overrated.
- You saw Titanic and thought (rightfully so, given Titanic) that DiCaprio was a bad actor.

DON'T see this if...
- You flinch every time you hear the f-word.
- You think DiCaprio's best performance was in Titanic.
- You and some guys need something to do. It's a great guy movie.