The Departed "B+"

Fucking Rats!

People say that great performances make a film. They also say that great performances can overcome a weak story or even a poorly shot film. Well, people say a lot of things.

Director Martin Scorsese makes great films and he especially makes great films about the mob. Having said that, there is much to like about “The Departed”, but on the other hand, there is much I didn’t like . . . technically speaking.

As a cinematographer friend of mine always says, “Let’s start with the good”. Well, here it is, what a cast!!! The cast in this film collectively and individually gives perhaps the best performances of their careers. Where should I start?

I’ll go against the convention of saving the best for last. Jack Nicholson, wow, what a bravura performance. Now Jack has given some of the best screen performances ever but he outdoes himself as the deliciously evil and psycho crime boss, Frank Costello. Nicholson’s performance rates up there with some of the greatest villains the screen has ever seen. He plays this character with such wild abandon that you become mesmerized just watching him. He is at once terrifying, funny and brilliant. What more can I say? His performance alone is worth the ticket price. But add that to the rest of the cast? Whew, it turns into a “How to act for film” class.

Leonardo DiCaprio also gives what I think is his best performance. Once upon a time Leo was a great actor and then “Titanic” happened and it seemed to derail his acting abilities. Now as the “new” DeNiro for Scorsese, Leo has morphed into a great actor. He seamlessly fits into the character of Billy Costigan by fully imbibing what it means to be an inside man. You can almost smell the pungent odor coming off the screen in his performance. In most cases that would be a bad thing for an actor but in Leo’s case it’s electrifying. Matt Damon is quickly compiling quite a resume of stellar performances. Here he plays one of the central characters, Colin Sullivan with such perfection that you believe that he missed his calling as a Boston cop. His multi-layered performance not only keeps up with the others but he holds his own proving that he not only belongs with such actors but he is one of them.

The rest of the cast is just as stellar. Alec Baldwin who has reinvented himself as a fast talking baddie, here plays a fast talking but clueless police captain. He is excellent in this role and often gets the biggest laughs (no, this isn’t a bad thing). Martin Sheen as the undercover police captain plays his role with understated vigor. He is perhaps the only sympathetic and good character in the film. Mark Wahlberg plays the only other cop who knows what’s really going on and he attacks the role with such gusto that I almost didn’t recognize him. All amazing performances and all worthy of Oscars let me tell you. It’s going to be difficult for the academy to separate all these dynamic performances come award time. The weak spot? Vera Farmiga who obviously went to the Claire Forlani school of acting (looks not withstanding) is painfully overmatched in all her scenes. Thank God she wasn’t in any scenes with Jack, he would have ripped her head off, threw it on the ground and danced on it.

Now let’s talk about the rest of the film or the “bad”. Usually in a Scorsese picture, the editing and music are amazing but here they seemed forced and worse, they both detracted from the story. The editing by longtime collaborator and legend Thelma Schoonmaker was sadly to say not her best. In fact there were some puzzling jump cuts that screamed “look at me I’m different!” I guess I expected more. The music was totally misplaced. There is something to be said for having an orchestral score that can’t be said by some random rock song. I know Scorsese likes rock songs and he loves “Gimme Shelter” but did he have to use it in three different scenes? That song was better suited in “Goodfellas” anyway. I love that song as well but come on. Now the cinematography is a difficult one to mention. Michael Ballhaus has shot many great films including aforementioned “Goodfellas” but there was something wrong here. Artistically the film was shot with beautiful moves with beautiful composition but the lighting just plain sucked. All the characters were much too “hot” or overblown. You could obviously tell that the lighting on them was too bright. And that neat little trick at the beginning where Nicholson was in the dark? Not done well. It was way too distracting. The story itself is one we have seen before and yes there are some surprises and twists and turns but if it hadn’t been for the actors and director this could have been a straight to video film.

Overall, the performances make this film worth seeing. Martin Scorsese deserves all the accolades he’s getting for it. This wave of acclaim can carry him into Oscar season and he probably will be rewarded not so much for this film but for the injustices he has received over the years. How can you not give an Oscar to one of the best directors of the last 30 years? This is a crime that will be rectified come March 5th. But is it his greatest film? Not by a long shot. It’s more like a .38 to the head.
See this film and judge for yourself.