Modern Greek tragedy
Hubs and I saw The Departed, starring Jack Nicholson, Matt Damon, and Leonardo DiCaprio, this week. While REALLY LONG, the movie was good.
Nicholson plays Frank Costello, an Irish mob boss in Boston. Costello relies on Colin Sullivan (Damon) his plant in the Boston police department, to keep himself one step ahead of the law. But the police know there's a rat, so they plant their own undercover officers within Costello's organization. One of those officers is Bill Castigan (DiCaprio), who goes under deep cover and ends up being one of Costello's most trusted heavies. As quickly become obvious, however, there's no way this thing is ending well.
This is DiCaprio in what I consider to be one of his best roles to date. His Bill Castigan is a deft pretender, but he's extremely vulnerable and scared that he'll be on the receiving end of a bullet at any moment. Nicholson and Damon also give great performances, but this is DiCaprio's movie.
This film is a modern Greek tragedy. As the story unfolds, we recognize how it must end. However, it is the method that Scorsese and his cast uses to get us there that makes the film so watchable. As with many Scorsese films, it runs long, but the ending, when it comes, is swift and merciless.
Worth seeing.
Nicholson plays Frank Costello, an Irish mob boss in Boston. Costello relies on Colin Sullivan (Damon) his plant in the Boston police department, to keep himself one step ahead of the law. But the police know there's a rat, so they plant their own undercover officers within Costello's organization. One of those officers is Bill Castigan (DiCaprio), who goes under deep cover and ends up being one of Costello's most trusted heavies. As quickly become obvious, however, there's no way this thing is ending well.
This is DiCaprio in what I consider to be one of his best roles to date. His Bill Castigan is a deft pretender, but he's extremely vulnerable and scared that he'll be on the receiving end of a bullet at any moment. Nicholson and Damon also give great performances, but this is DiCaprio's movie.
This film is a modern Greek tragedy. As the story unfolds, we recognize how it must end. However, it is the method that Scorsese and his cast uses to get us there that makes the film so watchable. As with many Scorsese films, it runs long, but the ending, when it comes, is swift and merciless.
Worth seeing.
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