“Congratulations on passing the detectives’ exam, and welcome to the Special Investigation Unit.”
The Departed is a crime thriller directed by Martin Scorsese (Goodfellas, Taxi Driver, The Wolf of Wall Street). It follows Billy Costigan (Leonardo DiCaprio), a South Boston cop who must go undercover to infiltrate the criminal organisation run by mob boss Frank Costello (Jack Nicholson). As Costigan fights to gain Costello’s trust, Colin Sullivan (Matt Damon), a career criminal, infiltrates the police department and reports on their activities for his criminal bosses. As both organisations discover they have a mole in their midst, Costigan and Sullivan must discover each other’s true identities and intentions to save their own lives.
I really enjoyed this movie because of the mystery and suspense that was present throughout, not to mention it had an amazing cast, with Mark Wahlberg, Martin Sheen and Alec Baldwin alongside DiCaprio, Damon and Nicholson. The mystery of who’s going to get discovered first and what’s going to happen is brilliant, with DiCaprio really playing someone who wants to do whatever he has to do to get his job done, and Damon playing a real scumbag you love to hate.
There’s also a fair amount of action through, and if you like police movies then this is definitely a great one to watch, if you can get over the Boston accent. However, this kind of does explain why Mark Wahlberg was given a role, but its a role thats just hilarious and well suited to him so I’m not complaining, plus I like him as an actor anyway.
I would definitely recommend this movie in general, but especially if you love a good mystery movie that has you on the edge of your seat.
Jake Carder's AS Media Studies Blog 