My apologies for the minor hiatus, but I’m back in business and paid a little visit to my friendly neighborhood Loew’s Cineplex last night, where I caught Martin Scorsese’s most recent film, The Departed.  Initial reaction: Wow.  Second reaction: Wow.  For any Scorsese fans out there (I am a huge one myself), you may have been a little disappointed in Marty’s last few flicks.  When I say disappointed, I’m not referring to the quality of the films as much as I’m referring to the content.  The Aviator was a great movie and was up for a lot of awards, but we’re you entertained? Titanic was a multi-Oscar-winning movie, and it was extremely well made.  Also, I hated it more than Battlefield Earth.  Yea, that Travolta movie with the aliens, it was bad.  Same with Gangs of New York and that Bob Dylan documentary he made - both great, but a little too epic-y for my tastes.  I think I can speak for all Scorsese fans when I say we all wanted a return to the form of Mean Streets, Goodfellas, and Taxi Driver, movies that showed no concern for political correctness or morale, and just told a dirty, dark-side of life story that kept you on the edge of your seat.  Thankfully, The Departed is Marty’s comeback film, a no-holds barred crime drama that will spin your head around and in my case, make you want to go back for a second round.

The basic premise of this film (not a spoiler), involves an undercover cop (Leonardo DiCaprio) infiltrating the mob and an undercover mobster (Matt Damon) infiltrating the police force.  On one side, Jack Nicholson gives a brilliant performance as mob boss Frank Costello, a grizzly mass murderer with kinky habits and drug use/dealing tendencies.  And on the other side, Martin Sheen also gives a strong performance as police captain Queenan, who is savvy but wary of the risk involved in placing a mole in the mob.  To me, it was well done (and important) to establish this premise almost immediately in the film.  That leaves plenty of time (roughly 2 hours) for Scorsese to stage a battle of wits between the forces of good and evil.  A standard crime drama with all the elements, the audience really gets a good look into the torment of DiCaprio’s character Billy Costigan, Jr., and the anguish he is caused every day as a result of trying to live two lives.  The same goes for Damon, who seemingly handles it better, although reasonably so.  Would you handle it better if you were a good guy hiding among bad guys, or a bad guy hiding among good guys?  I thought so.

There a few things to pay attention to in this film.  One aspect that I found interesting, is Costello’s odd mixture of violence and compassion.  While it is clear that he is a ruthless killer and a criminal, there are a few situations where he opts for a different approach.  When he takes Costigan under his wing, and when he questions Costigan as a rat, he actually steps back and listens to DiCaprio’s character.  In one scene where he confronts Billy about weeding out the rat, he even adds that back in the old days, his way of dealing with an informant was to just kill everyone that worked for him.  Now, he almost acts as a father figure, giving Costigan advice constantly, even when he makes mistakes, which is not your stereotypical mob boss reaction.  Also dealing with Damon’s character Colin Sullivan, Costello’s mole in the police force, he seems to take a lenient approach and allows a surprising amount of freedom to Sullivan.  Although somewhat different as Sullivan was with him from childhood, this compassion of Costello ultimately makes sense with certain revealings toward the end of the film.  I’m not telling.

In my humble opinion, two characteristics of Scorsese films that I appreciate the most are the supporting cast and the soundtrack.  The film features a Rolling Stones tune by the name of “Gimme Shelter”, fitting and classic, and can be connected as DiCaprio and Damon are both trying to stay sheltered from being discovered.  At least that is how I interpreted it, aside from it being a great song.  And of course who could have a crime flick in Boston without the help from the Dropkick Murphy’s’ “I’m Shipping Up To Boston”.  Their heavy, bagpipe laced rock-out blasts over some of the action scenes, and it just feels like it belongs there.  Top it off with a newer version of Pink Floyd’s “Comfortably Numb”, which rightfully underscores a certain drug sequence, and you’ve already put together a classic soundtrack.

The supporting cast in the movie is tremendous.  There are plenty, but the two that steal the show are Alec Baldwin and Mark Wahlberg.  Baldwin plays a detective in the police force who Damon’s character deals directly with on a constant basis.  Essentially, Alec plays Alec, the raspy-voiced, over-confident prick that he’s played in so many roles.  But again, he drops great lines in great spots and it just feels like he fits.  Wahlberg provides most of the comedy relief in the film, playing a tough guy cop with a seriously dirty mouth, who finds comfort in degrading his peers and parading around like he’s a bodyguard.  His scenes are limited, but every frame he’s in, he commands your attention.

It’s tough to get into detail about the storyline without giving away plot points, but as I said this film will really get you thinking.  As you would expect there’s an abundance of violence and some hysterically colorful language.  While each side grows closer and closer to uncovering the moles, the suspense increases and the close calls might cause you to start gnawing on your fingernails.  But to me, that’s part of the Scorsese touch.  Shock value definitely counts.  In so many ways this is and is not your typical crime drama.  But one thing’s for sure, Marty’s back in action.  Get to the theater if you can, and if you can’t, go eff yourself.