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I was literally blown away by The Departed. Every single thing about this film was so tense. Despite how many times I've watched it, I still find it really suspensful. The Departed is an absolutely outstanding film that has a few unexpected twists that will leave you totally shocked. It does have a lot of crime within it but I find it to be more of a drama film because it goes get pretty personal whereas crime films are more violent and deadly than personal. The Departed is still violent and deadly. The Departed is a remake of a Hong Kong film called Infernal Affairs. I haven't seen Infernal Affairs yet but I have serious doubts that I will like it more than The Departed. One thing that this film definitely does have out of all of the films that I have watched is there is an awful lot of swearing in it. That didn't bother me at all because on occasions it actually made me laugh. This film totally deserved every single Oscar it won including Best Picture 2006, Best Director, Best Adapted Screenplay and Best Editing.
This film has an absolutely fantastic cast with a lot of well known actors that are very famous. Leonardo DiCaprio's performance as Billy Costigan is absolutely incredible which I find extremely underrated. Billy is a young man who has grown up in crime because pretty much all of his family were criminals. He doesn't want to be like his family so he decides he wants to be a cop. He has a few problems though because he has to get through Captain Queenan and Staff Sergeant Dignam first. They don't think he would be a very good cop because of his family being criminals. He goes undercover to bring down mob boss Frank Costello. Matt Damon was good as Colin Sullivan. He is a sergeant in the Massachussetts State Police but there is something about him which makes it a very suspensful ride. There is a lot of questions whether there are moles in each and what is going to happen. Jack Nicholson's performance as Frank Costello was really powerful because it was pretty terrifying and pretty funny as well. Costello is a typical Jack Nicholson because Costello is a real ladies man and Jack is such a charming actor for his age which makes him perfect for the character. Mark Wahlberg really cracked me up in this one because he cannot stop swearing. He acts like he suffers from tourettes syndrome but does it in a funny way which can be quite offensive. I think due to his black-comedy performance, he earned his Oscar nomination for that. Wahlberg was really awesome but Jack Nicholson should have been nominated instead for Best Supporting Actor. Ray Winstone was pretty awesome as well as Costello's right-hand-man Mr. French. I don't know why but Vera Farmiga sort of irritated me in this one. Martin Sheen and Alec Guinness were good in this film too.
Martin Scorsese directs his best film since Raging Bull in my opinion. It is quite a different film from Scorsese because he isn't really a director for thrillers; he's more of a crime director. I find The Departed and Cape Fear to be the Scorsese thrillers. Scorsese usually creates gangster/mafia films but this one was a bit like that still which makes them re-born in his filmography. There hasn't been a proper mafia film since Casino. He finally deserved his Best Director Oscar for this film. He should have previously won ones for Taxi Driver, Raging Bull and GoodFellas. The script is very well adapted because of it being a remake but it was written quite originally because of some of the black comedy within it.
The Departed is definitely the best film of 2006 and it totally deserves to be. It is Martin Scorsese's second best film after Raging Bull, it is my favourite Leonardo DiCaprio film, it is my favourite Matt Damon film and it is my third favourite Jack Nicholson film after One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest and The Shining. The Departed is an absolutely amazing suspensful thrill ride that I have watched over and over again that I really love every time! Highly recommended to everyone!
