By Michael Belmont
Gargoyle sports editor
Posted Thursday, Nov. 16, 2006, The OG, arts

Leonardo DiCaprio in “The
Departed” (click to enlarge)

DIRECTOR MARTIN SCORSESE'S newest work, “The Departed,” is like that cocky, smart-mouthed, crass jerk who entertains everybody but forms lasting friendships with nobody. If you're not put off by the grisly violence, you'll enjoy your viewing time for the pervasive dirty punchlines, the colorful characters, the gripping suspense, and, well, the grisly violence that puts everything in context. However, your departure from the movie is sure to be awkward, your pleasure void once you leave the theater.

“Do you do well in school?” Jack Nicholson's character, mafia boss Frank Costello, asks his future protege Colin Sullivan when he's just a boy in the movie's opening scene. “So did I. That's what they call a paradox.” That's precisely what “The Departed” ends up being: a paradox more frustrating than intriguing.

How could a story so deftly crafted and smoothly performed leave viewers so dissatisfied? Scorsese's main offense is an ending that attempts to be surprising, but is really just random and even more contorted than some of the corpses you see on screen. The message that comes across is that none of the desperate life or death struggles that dominated the story really matter, and you can't help feeling as the lights come on in the theater that you were a little ripped off.

The premise itself is wonderfully symmetric, and the cast, even among the supporting characters, is superb: Matt Damon is the adult Colin Sullivan, the “immaculate” polished good guy who's actually a bad guy, and Leonardo DiCaprio is Billy Costigan, the violent scumbag bad guy who's actually a good guy.

Mark Wahlberg is Dignam, the cop who hates them both, and Vera Farmiga is Madolyn, the sultry shrink who loves them both. Jack Nicholson turns in a truly great performance as Costello, a mass murderer straight from hell, while Martin Sheen is Oliver Queenan, the fatherly undercover police controller who fights for what's right. The smell of rat makes them all sick, and by the end everybody's losing their mind.

The storyline moves at just the right pace, and manages to be simple enough so as not to be opaque, but sophisticated enough so as not to be dull. The male characters are lively, pugnacious, and loud, but the most important ones also have refreshing depth. The few female characters are at least very attractive, though insubstantial and kind of vapid (guys will tend to like this movie a lot more than girls for multiple reasons).

The race to uncover the identities of the rival infiltrators of the dueling organizations is so close that, in a way, it's understandable that the screenwriter William Monahan decides to bail himself out at the end, however annoying. More interesting than “The Aviator” and less formulaic than “Gangs of New York,” “The Departed” is Scorsese's best movie in recent years, whatever its shortcomings.

There are some of you out there who might appreciate the abruptness and morbid simplicity of the final blows, but for many more of you the lack of a truly great culminating twist will be irritating. There are no clues in the main body of the movie to indicate the key development that defines the outcome, so don't try too hard to guess. Your best bet is simply to sit back, relax, enjoy the show, and maybe leave a few minutes early.

“The Departed” is now playing at the Beverly Cinema 18 (click here for times). Runtime: 152 minutes. Rated: R.