The Departed is Scorsese at His Best

A series of stunning performances head Martin Scorsese's latest epic. The Departed has one of the better ensemble casts since Ocean's 11, and lives up to the expectations. Scorsese brings together all the elements he has crafted in The Departed.

And there are few comparisons in the ranks of cop movies as of late. Actor Denzel Washington had a memorable performance in Training Day. Mel Gibson was stoic in the Lethal Weapon series. And Ray Liota headed probably the best of the more recent cop movies in Narc.

While The Departed doesn't have anything completely original-bad cops, good cops, and gangsters-it achieves telling an old story in a new way. The Departed story is about the decisions cops make early in there careers, and the hard core seriousness of what a cop is.

Matt Damon's plays Collin Sullivan, an officer who quickly rises through the ranks to detective due to the help of a crime boss. The crime boss who helps Sullivan is Frank Costello, played by Jack Nicholson. Nicholson plays behind the scenes for the most part; he is involved in the drug trade in Boston, and occasionally steals high priced items. Leonardo DiCaprio plays Billy Costigan, a smart cop who had too high of an SAT scores to be a regular beat officer. Instead he goes undercover, and is immediately assigned to break into the Nicholson's cartel.

Soon, all three characters are involved in a fight where there's a thin line between right and wrong. Sullivan is soon put on the task force to catch Costello in the act, creating a conflict of morality. Costigan is already into Costello's group, providing a lot of suspense to the coming clash of characters.

The little things make The Departed what it is. The smaller parts are played by actors like Alec Baldwin and Martin Sheen; top-list actors who are use to starring in movies. The soundtrack adds to the rising tension of the story, but early songs like The Rolling Stones "Gimme Shelter" provide the rock and roll excitement that the movie is apt to bring.

Images of New York have always been synonymous with Scorsese films. Yet in this picture Boston is the focus, and there are few setting defining moments as everything revolves around the characters.

Another cop flick might not give most people pause, but when they see the sort of awards that The Departed is likely to merit, they will likely give it a chance.