The Departed: Catch Him if You Can
Leonardo DiCaprio, Matt Damon, Jack Nicholson

Review by Breanne Boland October 19, 2006 Issue

So often one fine element in a movie exists at the expense of others. A film can be funny, but not smart. Or it can be smart, but smarmy and too self-aware. It can be complicated and difficult, but at the expense of clarity.

The Departed avoids all of this. Quick-witted, devastating, vicious, and complex, it shows its substantial accomplishments without leaving the audience behind. A fortunate thing, because it would be a shame to let even a second of this well crafted film go unabsorbed or unappreciated. It’s a marvelous 152 minutes of many talented people being on top of their game – excellent performances from the entire cast, great directing from Martin Scorsese, and a smart, unexpectedly funny script by William Monahan that by turns sharpens and softens the brutal violence that permeates the film. The story and the direction are taut, bringing us to sharp twists in ways that feel simultaneously natural and startling. The actors, be they good guys or bad, frequently work in a vein of gleeful malevolence. It’s incredibly fun to watch but also incredibly tense, because at times the film is populated almost entirely by hair-trigger hotheads, all with vendettas, and many with guns.

Leonardo DiCaprio and Matt Damon both play characters joining the Massachusetts State Police. DiCaprio is pulled aside before officially joining and is assigned to go deep undercover and infiltrate Boston’s Irish mob, headed by Jack Nicholson. Meanwhile, Damon’s character quickly rises through the ranks, eventually heading the team working to bring Nicholson’s mob boss down. However, Damon’s character secretly works for Nicholson, feeding him information that keeps him – perennially, infuriatingly – from getting caught. Both DiCaprio and Damon feel the wear of their double lives, which come to a head as they race to discover each other’s identity, knowing that no one else in the mob or the police can do it.

DiCaprio does a great job at playing the conflicted, exhausted mob mole. It’s amazing to watch him gradually deconstruct, bringing his character’s disintegration closer and closer to the surface as the film goes on. Damon is marvelous as the ambitious, duplicitous state trooper who, while living a far nicer life than his counterpart, still begins to crumble under the strain of constant deception. Nicholson is at his psychopathic best, believably crazy and narcissistic without veering into the self-parody in which he’s been slumming in recent years. Martin Sheen and Mark Wahlberg are the cops in charge of the undercover unit, the only two people who know DiCaprio’s true identity. Wahlberg’s character’s malicious humor – and indeed, just his malice – is a highlight, not a small achievement in a film full of outstanding qualities. Alec Baldwin has a bit part as a high-ranking state police official, and by being his typical charismatic, hilarious self, he steals every scene he appears in.

The Departed is an incredibly engrossing film, more suspenseful (and possibly bloodier) than any horror movie that will come out this year. However, it stays intelligent and pulls visceral reactions from the audience without pandering or resorting to cheap startles and gore. Instead, it stays true to the story it’s telling, and in avoiding easy solutions to this difficult, double-crossing tale it’s more effective and engrossing than anything that has graced movie theaters in some time.

Bottom line: Martin Scorsese in his prime

Coming attractions

October 20th
Flags of our Fathers – A tale about the Battle of Iwo Jima and the personal fallout for soldiers who become associated with the iconic photograph. Directed by Clint Eastwood. The film’s discussion of propaganda and war efforts should add to the poignancy.

The Prestige – From the director of Batman Begins and Memento. Two London magicians (Christian Bale and Hugh Jackman), exposed as frauds during a sÈance, try to destroy each other’s careers. With Scarlett Johansson and, intriguingly, David Bowie.

Marie Antoinette – “It’s more of a history of feeling than a history of facts,” star Kirsten Dunst said about this sorta-biopic of one of history’s most infamous queens. This, coupled with France’s angry reaction, could make this movie awesome or absolutely dreadful.

October 27th
Saw III – As part of this film’s promotion, Tobin Bell, who plays killer Jigsaw, donated some of his blood to be put into a limited run of souvenir posters. In this installment, the killer kidnaps a doctor to keep him alive during his last complicated escapade. Of course, there are more devious happenings afoot…

Catch a Fire - In Apartheid-era Africa, a black man is moved from apolitical safety to join the African National Congress when the injustices of the time become impossible for him to ignore. With Derek Luke and Tim Robbins.

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