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MARTIN SCORSESE'S THE DEPARTED |
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This taut, smart thriller
is Scorsese's best shot
of TheColumnists.com
There was a time when I couldn't wait to see what Martin Scorsese was going to do next. After the tough, blood-drenched, but intelligent "Taxi Driver," I was ready to watch this director punch exciting new holes in the Hollywood envelope of acceptability.
For a time, he seldom disappointed me, especially after "Raging Bull," perhaps the best and truest fight picture ever made, and "Goodfellas," probably the great last step in the evolution of the gangster picture, an intense film that quite clearly inspired TV's mega-successful "The Sopranos."
But then he sagged at the throttle. I was so unimpressed by his last really grand scale crime picture, the historical "Gangs of New York," that I did the unthinkable: I fell asleep in a Martin Scorsese movie. Worse yet, he had latched onto insipid young "Titanic" actor Leonardo DiCaprio and pushed him into a leading role in "Gangs," then followed it up with a more entertaining, but still ponderous film called "The Aviator," starring DiCaprio as Howard Hughes. I began to snore at the sight of Scorsese's name in print.
So, that brings me to "The Departed," Scorsese's remake of a Japanese crime movie, once again starring Leonardo DiCaprio, backed up by Matt Damon, Jack Nicholson, Mark Wahlberg and a host of other strong character players. The moment this picture started, I immediately swallowed any yawns I'd planned on having. I was transfixed.
Without a doubt, "The Departed" is the Big One for Scorsese. It has not a single dull moment. It looks, sounds and feels great, frame after frame. On top of that, his faith in DiCaprio finally is wholly justified. This young actor has matured on screen and this year delivers not just one, but two Oscar-worthy performances--in "Blood Diamond," for which he's been nominated for Best Actor, and in "The Departed," a sizzling performance that Academy voters overlooked when handing out nominations.
The story is multi-layered and absorbing: An earnest young rookie cop (DiCaprio) in Boston is given special training to work undercover as an actual member of the city's most successful mob operation, run by a gang boss (Jack Nicholson) who has constantly eluded prosecution for his many crimes. At the same time, the mobster kingpin sends his own man (Matt Damon) into the police rookie program to work as his own spy within the Boston P.D.
Though the two rookies go through the same police training, they don't know each other. Both are intense young men with their own troubled backgrounds, which adds to the extreme psychological pressures they're both under while pretending to be what they're not. Ironically, they both end up smitten by the same woman--a police psychologist (Vera Farmica) who routinely deals with officers with severe problems.
Eventually, the mob determines they have a "rat" who has penetrated their inner circle and the police realize the mob is also getting inside information from someone in the very heart of the department. Soon, DiCaprio and Damon are assigned to find the traitor in each other's domain--and the countdown begins toward the deadly confrontation we know is going to happen sooner or later, probably resulting in the death of one or the other.
DiCaprio's undercover cop feels especially alone. He can't tell anyone what he's doing--and his two superior officers, played by Martin Sheen and Mark Wahlberg, seem particularly hostile and cruel in their dealings with him. Wahlberg, for instance, constantly taunts DiCaprio about not being tough enough to do this extremely risky kind of police work.
In contrast. Damon is embraced by crime boss Nicholson, who treats him like a son, and seems to have a very special destiny planned for Damon within the mob.
One of Scorsese's trademarks as a director of crime pictures is the sense of humor he brings to stories frequently clotted with blood and brimming with vicious brutality often very hard to watch. Nicholson serves Scorsese very well in that regard, playing the crime lord very close to "over the top" throughout the picture. Some may find this annoying. I don't. Nicholson's facial ticks and physical antics have a net result that makes his character seem even more sinister. He seems able to get laughs while doing some of the most vile acts possible.
DiCaprio builds his character in layers until we finally recognize he's surviving on sheer will power, determined to out-tough these criminal low-lifes no matter what it takes. At one time a far from macho kind of actor, DiCaprio has filled out, buffed up and acquired the sort of gruff toughness that makes you believe this obsessed cop is going to beat the odds and actually take the crime lords down.
Damon also has matured considerably as a versatile screen performer and, like DiCaprio, has left the "pretty boy" period of his career behind. His complex work as arch criminal Tom Ripley in "The Talented Mr. Ripley" and his experience as an action hero in the two "Bourne" thrillers now makes him completely credible in these tough guy roles while still retaining his obvious intelligence as a character.
Though neither DiCaprio, Damon nor Nicholson are up for Oscars for "The Departed," they all give Oscar-level performances. Wahlberg, whose work is also fine-tuned and impressive, is competing in the Best Supporting Actor category and has a good chance of coming home a winner.
The best chance, though, is that of Martin Scorsese, the Susan Lucci of Oscar nominees. He has come close, but has never won one for directing. This is the masterwork of his later period and if he's ever going to have an Oscar for his mantelpiece, his time ought to be now.
©2007 by Ron Miller. The poster reproduction is courtesy of Warner Bros. The "Oscar" logo and the phrase "Academy Awards" are the registered trademarks of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences. This column first posted Feb. 19, 2007.
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