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Departed, The
Warner Bros. Pictures


7.6

based on 39 reviews
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based on 511 votes
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No Direction Home: Bob Dylan

MPAA RATING: R for strong brutal violence, pervasive language, some strong sexual content and drug material

Starring Leonardo DiCaprio, Matt Damon, Jack Nicholson, Mark Wahlberg, Martin Sheen, Ray Winstone, Vera Farmiga, and Alec Baldwin

This gritty crime drama from director Martin Scorsese takes us into the lives of two cops: Colin Sullivan (Damon), smart and unabashedly ambitious, appears to be on the fast track in the Massachusetts State Police Department's elite Special Investigations Unit, whose prime target is powerful Irish mob boss Frank Costello (Nicholson). Billy Costigan (DiCaprio), street-smart and tough, is purported to have a violent temper that costs him his badge and eventually lands him back on the rough streets of South Boston, where he is recruited into Costello's ranks. But neither man is what he seems and, as they work at cross purposes, they are plunged into a dangerous game of cat and mouse in which the stakes could not be higher. (Warner Bros.)

GENRE(S):	Crime \| Drama \| Suspense/Thriller
WRITTEN BY:	William Monahan Siu Fai Mak and Felix Chong (screenplay Wu jian dao, aka Infernal Affairs)
DIRECTED BY:	Martin Scorsese
RELEASE DATE:	DVD: February 13, 2007 Theatrical: October 6, 2006
RUNNING TIME:	149 minutes, Color
ORIGIN:	USA

Named Best Picture of 2006 at the 79th Annual Academy Awards; received a total of 5 Oscar nominations. The story of The Departed is based on the 2002 crime thriller out of Hong Kong called Infernal Affairs.

All critic scores are converted to a 100-point scale. If a critic does not indicate a score, we assign a score based on the general impression given by the text of the review. Learn more...

100

Rolling Stone Peter Travers

A new American crime classic from the legendary Martin Scorsese, whose talent shines here on its highest beams.

100

The Hollywood Reporter Kirk Honeycutt

A ferociously entertaining film.

100

Newsweek David Ansen

The Departed is Scorsese's most purely enjoyable movie in years. But it's not for the faint of heart. It's rude, bleak, violent and defiantly un-PC. But if you doubt that it's also OK to laugh throughout this rat's nest of paranoia, deceit and bloodshed, keep your eyes on the final frames. Scorsese's parting shot is an uncharacteristic, but well-earned, wink.

100

ReelViews James Berardinelli

The original film was gritty and entertaining ("Infernal Affairs"); the new version is a masterpiece - the best effort Scorsese has brought to the screen since "Goodfellas."

100

Premiere Glenn Kenny

A triumphant revisiting of territory in which Scorsese is an unchallenged master -- the crime drama.

100

LA Weekly Scott Foundas

DiCaprio harnesses a terrific, buggy intensity reminiscent of "GoodFellas'" hopped-up Henry Hill (Ray Liotta).

100

The Onion (A.V. Club) Scott Tobias

When a director of Scorsese's caliber is working at the top of his game, it's a reminder of why we go to the movies in the first place.

100

Wall Street Journal Joe Morgenstern

The screenplay, by William Monahan, is simply sensational. Scenes play brilliantly. Feelings flow like molten lava. The dialogue overflows with edgy wit and acidulous arias of imprecation.

100

Miami Herald Rene Rodriguez

This is the most vibrant, exciting and invigorating movie-movie of the year.

100

New York Daily News Jack Mathews

A movie-movie of the first rank.

100

Baltimore Sun Michael Sragow

Thelma Schoonmaker, a Scorsese collaborator for over a quarter-century, did the bull's-eye editing. The moviemaking throughout is swift, unaffected, masterly.

100

TV Guide Maitland McDonagh

A thrilling return to form.

100

Chicago Sun-Times Roger Ebert

It is intriguing to wonder what Scorsese saw in the Hong Kong movie that inspired him to make the second remake of his career (after "Cape Fear"). I think he instantly recognized that this story, at a buried level, brought two sides of his art and psyche into equal focus.

Portland Oregonian Shawn Levy

It isn't in the same league as the director's best work, chiefly because it lacks the bravura flourishes of cinematic craft that helped make his name. But it's so vital and bloody and funny and wicked and tense and unapologetic that it feels kin to those films, which little of the director's work of the past decade has managed to pull off.

Seattle Post-Intelligencer William Arnold

Whatever it is, the film is the first major release of the fall worth talking about: a fast-paced, visually slick, psychologically fascinating Boston-set cops-and-crooks saga.

Entertainment Weekly Lisa Schwarzbaum

The very title The Departed suggests a James Joycean take on Irish-Catholic sentiment when, of course, this story is anything but: It's Scorsesean, and he's in full bloom.

Christian Science Monitor Peter Rainer

DiCaprio's performance is a revelation only for those who have underestimated him. In Scorsese's previous films, "The Gangs of New York" and "The Aviator," he seemed callow and miscast, but here he has the presence of a full-bodied adult. He's grown into his emotions.

Variety Todd McCarthy

This reworking of a popular Hong Kong picture pulses with energy, tangy dialogue and crackling performances from a fine cast.

Salon.com Stephanie Zacharek

Scorsese didn't need to remake "Infernal Affairs," but what he has done with it is a compliment rather than an affront to the original: The Departed reimagines its source material rather than just leeching off it, preserving the bone structure of the first movie while finding new curves in it. The story has been clarified; the ellipses of the original have been filled in with just the right amount of exploratory shading. This is a picture of grand gestures and subtle intricacies, a movie that, even at more than two hours long, feels miraculously lean. It's a smart shot of lucid storytelling.

Austin Chronicle Marc Savlov

This is a dream cast for both Scorsese and the viewer, and everyone is working at the peak of their craft. Nicholson's flawless performance as the increasingly unhinged crime boss is a marvel of manic, paranoid ruination.

Boston Globe Ty Burr

When The Departed roars to life, as it does in so many of its scenes, you feel like nobody understands movies -- the delirious highs, the unforgiving moral depths -- as well as this man does. Welcome back, Marty.

New York Post Lou Lumenick

The profanity-laced but witty and literate dialogue by William Monahan ("Kingdom of Heaven") is delivered by a brilliantly chosen cast, almost all of whom are operating at the very top of their game.

USA Today Claudia Puig

The film's score and editing brilliantly heighten the film's energy, keeping the audience somewhat off-kilter and unsure where things are headed.

Philadelphia Inquirer Steven Rea

It's a movie with a pulse. Sometimes, it flies off the chart.

The New York Times Manohla Dargis

What helps make The Departed at once a success and a relief isn't that the director of "Kundun," Mr. Scorsese's deeply felt film about the Dalai Lama, is back on the mean streets where he belongs; what's at stake here is the film and the filmmaking, not the director's epic importance.

Los Angeles Times Kenneth Turan

Frequently excessive but never dull, The Departed is a little too much of a lot of the things that define Martin Scorsese films but it's also almost impossible to resist. Too operatic at times, too in love with violence and macho posturing at others, it's a potboiler dressed up in upscale designer clothes, but oh how that pot does boil.

Washington Post Ann Hornaday

Crackles right along, stopping only long enough for Scorsese's signature bursts of explosive violence. Those brawls feel a bit rote, but what's different here is a newfound playful humor.

New York Magazine David Edelstein

The movie works smashingly, especially if you haven't seen its Hong Kong counterpart and haven't a clue what's coming. But for all its snap, crackle, and pop, it's nowhere near as galvanic emotionally.

Empire Roberto Sadovski

Back to the streets and with a stellar cast, Martin Scorsese proves once again that he's the master of urban storytelling -- and of thrillingly violent filmmaking.

The New Yorker David Denby

Not one of Scorsese's greatest films; it doesn't use the camera to reveal the psychological and aesthetic dimensions of an entire world, as "Mean Streets," "Taxi Driver," "Raging Bull," and "Goodfellas" did. But it's a viciously merry, violent, high-wattage entertainment, and speech is the most brazenly flamboyant element in it.

Chicago Tribune Michael Phillips

The Departed exists in a movie-place about as far from personal statements as a storied director can get. Maybe those days for Scorsese are long gone. But Scorsese's sense of craft remains sure.

San Francisco Chronicle Mick LaSalle

There's no attempt at greatness here, just a fabulously successful attempt at a good crime movie. The Oscar-bait self-consciousness of "Gangs of New York" and "The Aviator" is gone. In its place is a buoyancy, an impish delight in telling a harsh urban story in the most effective terms possible.

Chicago Reader J.R. Jones

The Departed is completely engrossing, a master class in suspense. But in moral terms it may be the least involving story that Scorsese -- an artist much preoccupied with morality -- has ever taken on.

Film Threat Pete Vonder Haar

This isn't to say The Departed is a bad movie, far from it, but knowing who's directing it and the amount of talent he had to work with, it's hard not to be disappointed that Scorsese didn't knock us on our asses. Is it his best movie since "Goodfellas?" Sure, but it falls shy of that film's excellence.

Slate Dana Stevens

It's nice to see Scorsese back in the saddle and a treat to find a cops-and-robbers thriller with some energy and wit. But even so, it's a stylish head rush of a movie that flies by, even at two-and-a-half hours, and keeps turning the knife (and your stomach) up to the final scene.

The Globe and Mail (Toronto) Rick Groen

Rarely has a star's look-at-me turn so completely torpedoed a project. Whenever the picture threatens to gain some momentum, up pops Jack to stop it dead in its tracks. The loyal few may be laughing with him, but the rest of us are definitely laughing at him.

Village Voice J. Hoberman

Neither a debacle nor a bore, The Departed works but only up to a point, and never emotionally--even if the director does contrive to supply his version of a happy ending.

Charlotte Observer Lawrence Toppman

Scorsese in his prime might've made better use of this hamming, but this picture feels like an exercise by a Scorsese clone who has tackled the master's themes - without his energy and economy of style.

The New Republic Stanley Kauffmann

Is Scorsese desperate? This screenplay has the scent of it, as if he is scraping for material to feed his basic filmic interests. But the risk in this case--not evaded--was that his need led him close to painful strain. I can't remember another Scorsese moment as shockingly banal as the finishing touch here.

The average user rating for this movie is 7.6 (out of 10) based on 511 User Votes
Note: User votes are NOT included in the Metascore calculation.

J S gave it a6:
The reviews for this movie were very misleading. I didn't realise going in that all the positive reviews were just making Scorsese a free ticket for an oscar. Its shameful that the academy gave into the hype for this movie, but insulted The Dark Knight by inferring people only liked it for Ledger. This movie was just a cheap thriller with a novel plot. You can tell the script was written by a hollywood prince who has no dealings with the outside world. It was a lot like a Quentin Tarantino movie; no texture, just the unrealistic overuse of language you'd only hear on a 6th grade school yard, and intense random violence. Speaking of language, the movie manages to demean the Boston area police to a greater extent than they have in real life. I can't imagine professionals at a meeting for a major police agency jokingly yelling 'I did your mom!' to each other. It had a lot of good acting all around, I'll give it that. Even Alec Baldwin manages to avoid being unbearable; and thankfully he isn't in many scenes. Their attempt to make you hate Mark Wahlberg's character throughout 3/4s the movie and then flip him to being a 'good guy' didn't float with me; it actually seemed goofy. Jack Nicholson reprises his role as The Joker, which seems better this time around. The character writing is so juvenile that 12 year olds could have easily played most of the parts. I think its interesting that in most movies like this they try to show a human side to the villains... But this movie goes above and beyond: dehumanizing everyone in the world other than two characters. If you aren't a scumbag you can't relate to 98% of the people in this film. Strangely, some elements of the film reminds me of Robocop. The way several of the characters die and Jack Nicholson's randomly breaking in with his party girls reminded me of the "I'd Buy That for a Dollar!" guy. But I actually liked Robocop. Usually when I see a movie that is grossly violent I look for some kind of meaning in the whole plot. Well, there is none in The Departed. Its just a bunch of thugs who kill people violently, and then die violently themselves. With a slight amount of intrigue in between, I could easily confuse this for one of the Bourne films.

caporegime gave it a10:
Great movie. This puts the Irish gangsters more fierce and unpredictable than the Italian gangsters today.

Kevin D gave it a2:
Why is Mark Wahlberg affecting a Bostonian accent in this movie: he's FROM Boston! And, as usual, Scorcese can't direct a believable female character at all. Ever. This-- ALL this said-- it is certainly a better movie than his post-2000 attempts: the tedious GANGS OF NY and the unwatchable THE AVIATOR...faint praise, indeed.

F. G. gave it a4:
The actors were great and very credible. But the plot was very blind of artfulness. I cant believe that any people can survive in this ambiance with this blindness. To far from any reality. A Movie just like a comic, nothing else.

Iain F gave it a10:
Why isn't Wahlberg mentioned at all? His performance was the best of his career, and one of my favourite characters, after Nicholson's of course, but no one out does the master. Scorsese encorporates various tricks and devices evident in his other films, and all of this on top of a sharp, witty script and believable acting from all the cast (except Baldwin... Urgh), this film is a must see. Goodfella's it most certainly is not, but it comes close, and that's near impossible.

Jack S. gave it a5:
The ending and opening were great. The middle scenes got a little boring though. A little to harsh of language. Fair movie though. I mean Damon's Bourne series was better. And DiCaprio's "Blood Dimond" was so much better. I don't think it desrves a 10/10.

Johnny C. gave it a10:
The envelope contained the tapes that showed how Matt Damon's character had connections with the mob.

Departed, The Warner Bros. Pictures

Departed, The
Warner Bros. Pictures