The Departed

I finally got to see it. I've been annoyed for years that Scorsese didn't win the Oscar for best director for "Gangs of New York", my favorite movie of his. I was glad to see him finally win for this movie but I was certain it couldn't be as good as Gangs. Now that I've seen it I'm not sure, I still like Gangs better but Departed might be the better movie. Everyone in it was brilliant, especially DiCaprio. He is really coming into his own as an actor as he ages, this one and Blood Diamond have been his best work by far at the grand old age of 33. Matt Damon was also good but not as good as his Bourne character, a role he seems to have been born for (pun intended).

And of course Jack Nicholson was Jack, need we say more? Mark Wahlberg & Martin Sheen weren't spectacular but certainly not bad either. They really didn't have enough screen time to shine too much, especially Wahlberg who got his role severely cut even though he was a key character.

It was long, I'm not sure how long but it kept my attention every minute, the movie never seemed to slow down at all and went through many plot twists, especially at the end. I really can't say anything about the plot without giving too much away and it's the kind of movie you have to see without knowing what it's all about. All I will say is that DiCaprio & Damon were the stars and their characters were the opposite sides of the same coin but in a very unusual way. Scorsese clearly liked this strange connection between them, the similarities and differences, because he would constantly switch back and forth, showing both their lives in parallel.

A very interesting concept and done well, would anyone expect less from Scorsese? I would definitely say this was worthy of the Oscar.