Customer Reviews
You looking at me? - By: sft, 20 Jul 2008 
There's no doubt that this movie is a class act. The writing & direction are as slick as it gets, & the performances pretty much flawless. But this film still lacks something. Compared to Scorcese's mob masterpiece Goodfellas, The Departed seems full of artifice. It lacks the truly visceral nastiness (thought there's plenty of violence) that infuses that earlier work. The hoods here come across as more a product of Hollywood's obsession with the mob than real people, unlike the gangsters in Goodfellas, who are alll too believable. There's also a McGuffin or two in here, which is a disappointment. And is it my imagination or has Jack Nicholson developed a habit of glancing directly at the camera? He certainly does it here a few times & I seem to remember him doing so in several of his recent movies. Nonetheless, this is a gruesomely entertaining movie & worth the lengthy (150mins) investment.
Good except for the ending. - By: Irikefe Okonedo, 08 Jun 2008 
Film noir crime thriller set in Boston, Massachusetts which follows the efforts of the Massachusetts State Police as they try to apprehend a notorious gangster & mass murderer played by Jack Nicholson by placing an undercover cop played by Leonardo DiCaprio in his crew to get close to him & gain intel & valuable evidence that will put Nicholson away. But unbeknownst to the Massachusetts State Police, Jack Nicholson has a mole of his own inside their very Department. A good crime thriller directed by Martin Scorsese that flows quickly through its two plus hours with a sharp plot, interesting characters & a compelling vision that is not undone by a lot of machismo on the part of the mainly male characters & a high body count. Matt Damon is excellent as the phoney cop in the pay of Jack Nicholson's gangster & Leonardo DiCaprio is also on form as the undercover cop playing a game of cat & mouse with Matt Damon as the two try to uncover each other's identity. However I felt that the ending to this film was fairly botched, such that what should have been a 5 star film was only a 4 star film, which is a shame because the film was excellent up until this point. Good but not perfect.
a return to form - By: martin thomas, 07 Jun 2008 much better than the rest of scorsese's recent output.its a very entertaining thriller with great performances
Welcome back, Marty - By: Happy Shopping, 02 Jun 2008 I will spare you the synopsis, & get to the point. This is good movie, not the best but very good & a return to form after the amazingly poor Gangs of New York. Finallly a Scorsese movie you can get behind, with moments of suprise & great story telling. It will be confusing a first, but as long as you are prepared to switch your brain on you will be fine.
He may never hit the heights of Goodfellas again, but the 3rd era of Scorsese films- aka Hollywood studio films, is taking shape. As long as he stays out of the studio & shoots on the street he'll be fine.
By the way, there is Japanese orginal, but we alll know what to expect when we compare originals to remakes. This is a different film, so consider it as such.
Scorcese hang your head in shame. - By: Dyspeptic Spirit, 09 May 2008 
This movie is a mess. I saw the original Japanese release (Infernal Affairs) & found it both confusing & non-sensical. I only watched this remake because of the good reviews & the fact that Scorcese was the director. Boy was I disappointed. If anything this version is worse than the original.
The trouble is that the story is just plain rediculous from start to finish. Of the two lead characters, one is brought up under the watchful eye of the local criminal kingpin & joins the Police to act as a mole for him. The other (a cop from a bad family) is persuaded to go undercover & try to infiltrate the kingpin's gang. The idea that a criminal gang would accept an ex-cop into the gang is plain rediculous. The idea that when they find out there is a mole in the gang that they don't immediately realise who it might be is absurd. From that point on the story just deteriorates until we are left with a pile of dead bodies & a rather pointless climax. Couple that with a terrible piece of overacting & miscasting (Jack Nicholson) & you are left with a resulting movie that is just plain bad.
Scorcese hang your head in shame.
