The Departed

I think Scorsese might just be back.

But let’s look at some previews before I get to the Resurrection.

FLAGS OF OUR FATHERS–Looks like Clint Eastwood is trying to make the next Saving Private Ryan. He might just be able to do it, too. I don’t know, though. Ryan Phillipe is in it. That could suck it down.

It’s the story of the boys who lifted the flag in Iwo Jima near the end of the Pacific stage of WWII. (He plans on making a second film from the perspective of the Japanese next.) I hope it’s awesome. The preview is pretty damn good.

THE GOOD SHEPHERD–This is the one I always got casts confused with The Departed. They both star Matt Damon and Alec Baldwin, so the trailers always ran together. But this one also has Robert De Niro, John Turturro, Angelina Jolie, Billy Crudup, William Hurt, Timothy Hutton, Chazz Palmenteri and, in his first movie since Lethal Weapon 4, Joe Pesci. I guess De Niro directing brought him out of retirement. (It’s a virtual Bronx Tale reunion!)

It’s the story of the CIA and it looks really good. I can’t wait.

BLOOD DIAMOND–Another Leo DiCaprio flick, this time about a diamond that everyone in the world apparently wants. Leo, Djimon Hounsou and Jennifer Connelly team up to get it. It looks to be a pretty good political thriller. I’ll see it.

STRANGER THAN FICTION–Marc Forster directs Will Ferrell in what looks like Hollywood trying its best to do a Charlie Kaufman/Michel Gondry movie. Ferrell is a man whose life is being narrated by a writer (Emma Thompson) who wants to kill her lead character, not knowing that he’s a real guy. Hopefully, this is good. Could Will be up for an Oscar? I doubt it. But it’ll at least be good for a laugh.

CATCH A FIRE–I missed this at Telluride, but I heard that it was really good. Derek Luke stars as a South African man who is mistaken for a revolutionary by Tim Robbins’ monster of a character. He is then basically turned into a revolutionary by the very government that doesn’t want him to be one. Not only does this look like a really good docudrama, but it looks like director Phillip Noyce also has something to say about how terrorists are created by their enemies.

That’s all I remember of the previews, so let’s get back to Marty’s best gangster movie in well over a decade.

Four years ago, Hong Kong directors Wai Keung Lau and Siu Fai Mak made a pretty damn good cop/gangster drama called Infernal Affairs. It concerned a gangster who infiltrated the cops and a cop who infiltrated the gangs. It did well enough to catch Martin Scorsese’s eye and he decided to remake it for American audiences who had never heard of stars Andy Lau and Tony Leung. (Too bad for them. Those guys are awesome.)

Now, for those of you who know about Scorsese, the fact that he has decided to make another gangster movie is amazing news. He’s spent the better part of the last 15 years running around different genres. From documentary to period drama to Tibetan historical piece to ambulance chasing. In fact, in the time since Goodfellas, he has made exactly one movie about gangsters: Casino. And that one was only half good. (I don’t count Gangs Of New York as a gangster movie. I guess it could be considered one, but I don’t really think so. Plus, that one was only about half good, too.) So his return to the modern gangster story (and a story that can actually handle a classic rock soundtrack) is reason enough to rejoice.

But look at this cast! Leo DiCaprio (for his third, and possibly last, trip to Scorseseland), Matt Damon, Jack Nicholson (amazingly in his first Scorsese film), Alec Baldwin, Martin Sheen, Mark Wahlberg…it’s a veritable cornucopia of amazing acting talent.

Colin Sullivan (Damon) has been a soldier for Boston gangster Frank Costello (Nicholson) since he was about 10 years old. But now he finally gets to really go to work for him. He was sent through the police academy specifically so that he could spy on the cops and make constant reports to Frank.

Billy Costigan (DiCaprio) was brought up in a world of gangsters, but he’s sick of it. He went to the police academy so that he could escape that life. He was an ok recruit, but it’s his background that the cops are interested in. Captain Oliver Queenan (Sheen) and Sgt. Dignam (Wahlberg) send him back to be a Southie in Sullivan’s gang. They need all the information they can get so that they can finally bust this guy.

The whole movie is basically a cat and mouse game where both sides know the other side’s plays, but neither side knows why. Meanwhile, Sullivan is forming a good relationship with the police therapist, Madolyn (Vera Farmiga). But will Costigan manage to move in on that?

Really, there is nothing wrong with this movie. It’s a 70′s gangster movie through and through where the bad guys are truly evil and no one is safe. Even the poster is 70s cinema. There are so many twists of characters (especially at the end) that it’s kind of hard to keep up at times. But it all falls into place and makes for an awesome movie.

Jack had to be coaxed into taking this part, but once he took it he made it one of his best performances in years. He hasn’t played a truly evil character like this since he put on white makeup back in 1989. And, trust me, the role suits him. He’s scary evil. And not a little bit insane.

Leo and Matt are almost as good as the conflicted (Leo more so than Matt) guys who are having their strings pulled by Costello. Costigan may be a cop, but he’s at the mercy of Costello probably more than anyone else.

Alec Baldwin is back to his Glengarry Glen Ross self. And Wahlberg goes the distance as a smack-talking sergeant who almost can’t treat his men like human beings.

Scoresese has finally gotten back to what he knows. The Aviator was his first great film since Goodfellas, but this is his late career magnum-opus. If he can put out a few more movies like this, he will be back in everyone’s good graces in no time. I actually kind of wanted to see it again as soon as the credits started rolling. I also wanted to listen to a bunch of Stones’ albums. I’ve always loved Marty’s soundtracks, but this may be the best one ever. The Stones, John Lennon, Badfinger, Van Morrison…not much else can be said. I own all of the songs that were played, but I feel like buying the soundtrack anyway.