The Departed

Starring Leonardo Dicraprio, Matt Damon, Jack Nicholson, and Mark Whalberg.
Directed by Martin Scocese.

Summary
This is a complicated and compelling crime drama. Frank Costello (Nicholson) is an irish mob boss, who took Colin Sullivan (Damon) under his wing when he was a child. Now he has put Colin into the police force as a mole for the mob. Queenan and Dignan (Martin Sheen and Whalberg) run a (very, very) undercover police unit and recruit William Costigan (Dicraprio) to infiltrate the irish mob. Only Queenan and Dignan even know that Costigan is a police officer.
Both Colin and William deal with the terror living double lives as they become increasingly paranoid that they will be discovered. Things began to come to a head as both Costello and Queenan discover that there is a mole within their organization. Choas reigns as both Colin and William look for a way out, and yet seek to continue to stay loyal to their duties.

Review
You probably know that this film was just crowned Best Picture at the Academy Awards. I thought this was a good choice (especially in competition with Babel). The movie was amazing. If you are thinking about seeing it, know that there is some pretty brutal violence and a truckload of language. I considered not reviewing it because I know many will have convictions that will keep them from seeing the movie. I totally respect that.
This movie was well-written and had a good story. But the story was made amazing by the story-telling job done by Scorcese. I was glad that he won Best Director because he took a good story and made it into an intense, amazing, compelling movie. It may have been the best crime movie I have ever seen (apart from The Godfather). The acting was amazing, especially by Dicaprio and Nicholson. They both gave powerhouse performances and their characters were incredibly memorable.
Best scene in the movie: The silent phone call. How did Scorcese make a silen phone call the most amazing scene of the movie (at least to me).

Question for Thought
This movie dealt with two men who were living double lives. While most of us do not experience to the extent of these two men, I think many of us do feel that we have some duplicity, whether it involves hiding certain sins or secret desire. What does living a double life do to us as humans? How can we get out of the spiral of living duplicitously?

Overall
As I already said, I thought this movie was amazing. It would probably be on my all-time top 5. . .but I thought the ending lacked a little bit. There was an explosive climax when the moba nd the police force clashed. Up to that point, I thought the movie was flawless and incredible. After this climax, I thought they were not quite sure how to end the movie. The ending was fine, but just fine. Not great. Whereas the rest of the movie was truly great.

Rating: 4.5 Stars out of 5 possible.