The Departed

They only went to grocery shop while I was menacingly dusting off my rifle in anxiety, thinking all along that they left me to watch The Departed. So I hold myself responsible for tainting my dad's and brother's wondrous image, lol. We were supposed to see the movie either Wednesday or Thursday, but things didn't go as planned. But luckily for us, my dad cut off worktime just so we could finally see it. See, got the best father in the world, hehe.

Action movies though don't attract me instantaneously, especially when the trailer only provides one-note brutality instead of variety. But once I'm at it, I'd always find myself cracking my knuckles brought by its intensity as well as laughing bersekly at the feature's sadistic humor. Just like with Pulp Fiction, Kill Bill, these movies which weren't even a part of my movie queue before but grew to be classic favorites the minute I laid my comprehension on it. The Departed, on the other hand, intrigued me not because of its premise rather by its ensemble gorgeousness cast, not to mention, Martin Scorsese's directorial juices. And so, to be in an interested disposition, I placed myself a row below where my dad and brother were seated, so I could feast on the actors' collective hotness, and at the same time thoroughly absorb every ounce of story being told. I actually had the row to myself until a couple of blondies seated by my far left. Not that I was very displeased, but they were a little misbehaved, eating their chips like a starving homeless dude would, and they'd flippantly squee everytime a hunk's on screen. Nevertheless, I wouldn't let them be a significant hindrance to my most awaited viewing pleasure.

Story centers on a couple of South Boston natives, William "Billy" Costigan (Leonardo DiCaprio) and Colin Sullivan (Matt Damon) who both are serving as spies (or 'rats' as what they're being dubbed as) to the Massachusetts State Police Department and to the demonic Irish mafia chief Frank Costello (the brilliant Jack Nicholson), respectively. Sullivan who grew up with the mobster was tossed to the police academy to eventually be in the elite group of officers who are in the mission of pursuing the mafia, particularly his 'dad'. Meanwhile, Costigan, who was a police academy dropout, and also who has real family ties with Costello, was assigned by Oliver Queenan (Martin Sheen) and his hot-headed deputy, Dignam (Mark Wahlberg) to infiltrate the Irish gang. As the two rats' double lives were completely filtered by lies, brutality, and strenuous eagle-eye-ing, both of their camps concurrently figured that they have spies within their teams. And in such an event, both Sullivan and Costigan were appointed to find their own rats in opposing sides.

It's quite a trick though, like both leads were counter-casted, because prior to watching this movie, I expected Matt to be playing the innocent good guy while Leo as the grungy and arrogant one. But unsurprisingly, both executed their characters, Matt as the slick dickwad and Leo as the sacrificial lamb, almost perfectly. These two might have stolen the whole feature with their acting prowess, but Jack Nicholson's effortless satanic expressions as well as Mark Wahlberg's solid jerkbag performance are definitely worth the mention. With that said, I believe that this without a doubt is one of the best films this year. Second best in my book. If you enjoyed films like Pulp Fiction or Goodfellas (a Scorsese classic I have yet to see), then you will most likely want to see this one. It will certainly grind your knee joints in suspense, and potentially crack you up with its comedic panache.