Available at Amazon.com
Director:
Martin Scorsese
Cast:
Leonardo DiCaprio….Billy Costigan
Matt Damon….Colin Sullivan
Jack Nicholson….Frank Costello
Mark Wahlberg….Dignam
Martin Sheen….Oliver Queenan
Vera Farmiga….Madolyn
Alec Baldwin….Ellerby
Warner Home Video presents The Departed. Screenplay by William Monahan. Running time: 151 minutes. Rated R. Theatrical release October 6, 2006. DVD released Feb. 13, 2007.
The Movie
“Boston” and “Irish” are two words rarely associated with Martin Scorsese’s movies. He’s most memorable films are about Italian-Americans culture in New York City. What does he know about the land of Larry Bird and Clam Chowder? He didn’t grow up on the rough streets of Tibet, but he still made Kundun. Unlike that narrative of non-violence, The Departed does allow Marty to work his gangster magic. Even though he has his mobsters kicking ass Irish-style, no one gets beaten to death with a shillelagh.
The film is an adaptation of the Hong Kong cop thriller Infernal Affairs (2002). Two young men on different sides of the law find themselves going undercover to be moles for their bosses. Colin Sullivan goes to the state police academy and quickly moves up the ladder at the State Police. His bosses have no clue that his “dad” is mob boss Frank Costello. Billy Costigan also graduates from the academy, but doesn’t get to cruise the highways looking for speeders. His job is to infiltrate Costello’s Irish-American gang that runs Boston’s underworld. After beating up a pair of Italian mobsters visiting from Providence, Rhode Island, Billy becomes the new boy in Frank’s crew.
After becoming deeply embedded, the two realize they have an opposite number undoing their good (or bad) work. Their primary duty becomes exposing the rat before they become trapped. Costello keeps Billy from knowing much about his operations. Even with his security clearances, Colin is blocked from the undercover agent files. The pressure of the double life and the constant fear of being whacked by Frank, makes Billy start popping pills. Colin wants to quit the criminal life since he’s doing so well with his cover job and his hot girlfriend. The two agents become ticking time bombs to each other and themselves. Neither can imagine a clean break from this operation.
It was a smart move to set the remake in Boston instead of just making another cop flick about New York or Los Angeles. Frank Costello becomes a fictionalized version of Whitey Bulger, currently on the FBI’s Ten Most Wanted list. Local boys Matt Damon and Mark Wahlberg give the story a Bay State flavor. My relatives live in Boston and embrace their Irish heritage. The sights and sounds of the film are familiar territory. Is this truly the Southie experience? The film is a little bit watered down in order to make it understandable to the viewing public. Most of the actors sound about as authentic as the cast of Cheers. At no time are subtitles necessary. While Damon dusts off his old accent without much of a problem, Jack sticks with being Jack. DiCaprio never quite cuts it. Sometimes he sounds like Michael J. Fox doing Marty McFly. His accent is not the voice that rants about Manny faking an injury. The lack of talk about the RedSox was also bothersome. Perhaps Marty’s tender New York ears didn’t want a recounting of the 2004. Although in one office hangs a photo of the final out so the event is not totally ignored.
What’s also disappointing is the lack of regional music in the soundtrack. Marty gives us the Drop Kick Murphys’ cover of Woody Guthrie’s “I’m Shipping Up To Boston.” But the rest of the soundtrack sounds like it could have been picked by any Clear Channel classic rock programmer. This is a community with a rich musical legacy and we’re given the Rolling Stones’ “Gimme Shelter.” Marty used this song on Casino and Goodfellas. Where’s the J. Geils Band, The Modern Lovers, the Pixies, Aerosmith or even Boston? The Cars’ “Moving in Stereo” would have been appropriate for the movie’s theme. If Marty had to have a Stones track, why not “Midnight Rambler” since it is about the Boston Strangler. There’s so much more that could have been done with the music. At least he didn’t have the Irish mobsters listening to Sinatra.
Seeing how Infernal Affairs was the biggest Hong Kong box office hit and won all the major awards, the mantra of this remake is “don’t mess it up.” Marty does bring a bit more to the movie than the original. It’s 50 minutes longer. He also microwaves the timeline. In the Hong Kong version, the two moles have been working deep cover for several years. Also Marty gives the two guys a carnal bone to fight over – in the form of Madolyn, a psychiatrist that “treats” both of them. The ending proves that Marty can’t resist the comeuppance reel. He wants us to think that Costello is Whitey Bulger. Instead of allowing the truth of Whitey’s fate to dictate Costello’s life, we’re given an approved Hayes Office ending. We don’t get a harsh reality lesson of the Hong Kong ending. We’re presented with a neat box.
While this is a good film, it’s far from great. There’s just a lack of little things to make it jaw dropping brilliant. Even as a Martin Scorsese gangster film, it lacks the scenes that made Mean Streets and Goodfellas masterpieces. He plays it too safe in The Departed. In his other films, he captures violence. Here he appears to be recreating violent moments. It lacks the unusual faces that populate his mobster films. Everyone in this film looks like an actor. You never feel scared when presented a landscape of heads. Jack doesn’t come close to channeling the menace that is Whitey Bulger. His research seemed to be combining The Joker with the Devil from Witches of Eastwick. How can we believe that the face of crime in Boston has a haircut like Nick Nolte’s mugshot? Like Jack’s leopard spotted tie with his gray suit jacket, the balance is off in this film. The details don’t seem right. It’s almost Marty-lite. Anyone that has directed five or more Sopranos episodes could have made this film. The Departed is more entertaining than epic.
The DVD
VIDEO:
The picture is 2.35:1 anamorphic. The picture transfer is great. The night scenes aren’t too grainy.
AUDIO:
The soundtrack is Dolby Digital 5.1 in English, French and Spanish. The subtitles are also in English, French and Spanish. Even though Marty did commentary tracks for his last Leo starring two films (Gangs of New York and The Aviator), he skipped discussing this one.
EXTRAS:
All the bonus features are contained on the second disc.
Stranger Than Fiction: The True Story of Whitey Bulger, Southie and The Departed (21:06) is a primer on Irish mobsters in Boston. We get to hear about the rise of Whitey Bulger, Marty and screenwriter William Monahan talk of how Frank Costello is patterned after Bulger. But the real mobster is much more complicated than his cinematic shadow. The piece focuses on Whitey being an FBI informant. Marty wants to paint Whitey as a rat, but he used the feds to remove the Italian mobsters from Boston.
Crossing Criminal Cultures (24:02) seems like proper behind the scenes documentary, but deals with Marty’s love of old gangster flicks. Why does Rolling Stone magazine’s Peter Travers gets as much face time as Marty? We do learn that Marty has two tributes to Paul Muni’s Scarface in The Departed. You might not want to watch these bonus feature until you’ve finished watching The Warner Gangsters Collection. They show the end to every film in the boxset. Peter goes on about all of Marty’s gangster films and a defense of the screen violence. The last 4 minutes finally gets to The Departed.
Scorsese on Scorsese (1:25:42) is the Turner Classic Movies overview of his career up to The Aviator. Richard Schickel allows Marty to define several of the movies from his career. It’s far from a definitive half a dozen of his films are skipped. But it is good to get Marty’s views of his own films instead of Peter Travers.
Deleted Scenes (19:23) don’t contain any “how could they have cut that” moments. Here’s a quick rundown: 1. An instructor explains how the bullet from a head wound can leave a victim’s butt. 2. Leo smarts off to a drill instructor at the police academy. 3. A flashback to little Leo and his father on a fishing pier. Jack shows up to recruit Leo’s dad. “Wake up and smell the coffin. The scene really lifeless. 4. Leo smokes while looking at the Boston skyline at dusk. It’s a contemplative beauty shot. 5. Baldwin has a press conference about busting a killer. 6. An expanded scene of Baldwin and Matt jabbering about progress in busting Costello. Baldwin dunks his face in a bowl of ice water. 7. Leo gets told by Martin Sheen that SIU has been compromised. He has to follow Jack with the letter. 8. Delahunt’s deathbed talk to Leo gets expanded. 9. Matt gets debriefed by the police. He spins his story to be hero of the day.
The Inside Pulse
The Departed is good, but compared to Scorsese’s other gangster films, it’s his weakest effort. Jack Nicholson comes off as more annoying than pure evil on the screen. For fans of the Hong Kong Infernal Affairs movies, the ending will be very disappointing and Hollywood.
