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«When you decide to be something, you can be it. That's what they don't tell you in the church. When I was your age they would say we can become cops, or criminals. Today, what I'm saying to you is this: when you're facing a loaded gun, what's the difference? » The Departed is more an adaptation of the already cult 2002 Asian flick Infernal Affairs than a remake. What's the difference? Well, it has the same basic premise but everything else is built around that plot to create original characters with new motivations and ultimately becomes a psychological drama rather than an action flick. William Monahan's screenplay is extremely precise. The dialogues are never useless, they all announce something coming up but if we don pay attention we wont notice. Within only the few first scenes, all the characters in the movies are established and they never seem to come out of nowhere when they reappear later in the film. It almost feels as it was written as a book rather than a script. The writting is so good, the psychology of the characters is what matters the most and Martin Scorsese only had to drive this home. The Departed is less ambitious than Scorsese's recent work, such as Gangs of New York and The Aviator, and for that reason, he seems to be having more fun, yet, it doesnt mean the film has no depth at all, it actually has many insights about lying, honor and morality. The language and the feel of Boston is captured perfectly, both in the screenplay and Scorsese's direction. Its part cop thriller and part character study, but its never about the police procedurals or the mob lifestyle, something for which Scorsese has given a lot before with his ultimate masterpiece Goodfellas but also with Casino and Mean Streets. At first glance, The Departed seems to have been made for entertainment purpose but as a veteran director, and one of the best in the history of cinema, Scorsese couldnt help but make this somehow profound, and it pays off cause its his best film in 16 years, his best since Goodfellas, thats not saying little, cause the man has an impressive filmography in between those two films. Basically, the film opens with Jack Nicholson, as Frank Costello - name inspired by a real mafia boss in the first half of the 20th century - the local organized crime godfather, doing a speech about whats good and whats bad, mentionning the church, teaching a kid, Colin Sullivan, who becomes one of his protégé. Later as an adult, Sullivan becomes a state trooper, a cop, and works for Costello from the police department and helps him with hints and does what he has to do not to get caught. Costello is a viscious man. Nicholson nails his character pefectly, he never makes him likeable, he even does the opposite. Costello becomes a disgusting man that, as an audience, we love to hate. Later, he meets a young man, Billy Costigan, who jsut got out of prison, Costello has work with his dad and uncle so he knows the kid. Costigan is actually a cop, we know that before he even meets Costello, and he is smart, many people are suspicious of him, especially when words are out that there is a rat in the gang, and the cops hear the same about their department. Sullivan and Costigan are ulitimately destined to find each other. There are many unspoken words in The Departed, like Sullivan's relationship with the church, with only visual elements and his way of speaking, can only hint something bad, I could speculate child abuse by some priests and would beleive, something similar might have happened to Costello as well. If you havent seen the film, this wont ring a bell at hell, but if you have, maybe you will notice the same details as I did next time you watch it. The film really concentrates on the chracters's psychology rather than on the plot, the plot is there to keep the film moving, but the study of those men, Costigan, Sullivan, Costello, is fascinating. Plus, the acting is great. Leonardo DiCaprio is great again, Matt Damon proves he has more range than what many people wish he had and as mentionned earlier, Nicholson is amazing. The supporting cast is great as well, its no surprise, Scorsese is directing and we get memorable performances from Mark Wahlberg, Alec Baldwin, Martin Sheen, Ray Winstone and the beautiful Vera Farminga, who plays the woman who comes between those two seperate men, but is aware of it, actually, only the audience knows. Stylish and well-edited, The Departed its fast-paced and Howard Shore little string riff, which accompanies almost every scene, makes that film go by in a split-second, even though it's a bit more than two and a half hour long. Amazing film, which you must have noticed, I refused to compare to the «original», cause they dont have much in common. Two different cultures, two different films, with the same plot, thats all.