The Departed

When we talk about mob and crime dramas, we usually talk about the best and never talk about other films that are good but never reach the top of the mountain. This movie starts at the top and never looks down, it blows most of the competition away and buries them deep in the marsh, the way Frank likes it. Even though the three main actors are Leonardo DiCaprio, Matt Damon, and Jack Nicholson, there is strong supporting performances by Mark Wahlberg, Alec Baldwin and Martin Sheen that show this movie was well deserving of the Academy Award for Best Picture. When the Massachusetts State Police send an undercover officer to infiltrate the Boston Irish mob, they are unaware that the mob is doing a little undercover work of their own in the State Police ranks. Every facet of this movie is done superbly, from the accents that the actors are using to the locations where some of the exterior shots were done; everything is straightforward and very believable. Martin Scorsese directs this drama with the masterful eye that turns on every project that he is connected to, but here he gives you a story that maybe a retelling of an original but is so unique that its become an original all its own. The action sequences are so great that at times your left on the edge of your seat and you don't even realize it. This is filmmaking at its best and it deserves every accolade that it gets.
So many movies that are remade from Japanese films just don't capture the essence of the original but here it blows the original storyline out of the water. Coming from the Boston area myself, I wanted to see if they were going to depict a true Bostonian feel to the film, knowing that the final parts to the movie weren't shot in Boston. But everything looks and feels like you're here in the city, and truly you can't tell what was and wasn't shot here. The film grips you from the very beginning and never lets go, and by the end of the film when you think that the story is all over it just gives you another punch in the gut. Not to say that Scorsese didn't deserve the Best Director Oscar before but he certainly deserved it now considering that this is one of his masterpieces that will rank right up at the top with Goodfellas and The Godfather.