The Departed, screenplay by William Monahan, directed by Martin Scorsese - Eight out of 10

The Departed, screenplay by William Monahan, directed by Martin Scorsese

Eight out of 10

The Departed is one of the best-loved, highly acclaimed, complex films, placed by audiences at 41 on the list of top Rated Movies, with an astounding average – Metascore – evaluation among critics of 85 out of 100.

The firepower of this motion picture seems to be unequaled:

Jack Nicholson – up to the moment near his “departure” from film sets the best actor in the world, with George Constantin – Leonardo DiCaprio – somewhat artificial, tense, over the top in this feature – Matt Damon, Mark Wahlberg, Martin Sheen, Ray Winstone – excellent, even if he did not have a part to equal his work of art in Sexy Beast – Vera Farmiga. Alec Baldwin…all under the command of Martin Scorsese.

Yet the under signed must state that this film is not in any way up to the level of Goodfellas, Casino, the Age of Innocence, the King of Comedy, Raging Bull, the Last Waltz and other phenomenal achievements of one of the gods of cinema….not in his book anyway.

First, the performances are very good, but not exceptional.

Leonardo DiCaprio is a living classic and still young enough to win a few more Oscars, after elating acting.

However, for this cinephile, his manner in the Departed is awkward, tense, stressful, uneasy, melodramatic in instances, exaggerated and redolent of a faint cabotinage, if you ask this viewer.

Jack Nicholson is always expected to deliver magic, stupefying, hypnotizing and rapturous performances.

He has many excellent moments here, but like his younger partners, he is not as brilliant as in Chinatown. One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest…not even the more recent About Schmidt, which to this date looks like the last elating appearance from the Ubermensch…would it be possible to adapt the German and Say

Uberactor?

Matt Damon is also good, but not outstanding, on a par with Charlie Sheen and Mark Wahlberg.

The last two did not have too much material to work with, even if Judy Dench, for instance, took an Oscar for Shakespeare in Love after only very few minutes of screen time…

However, what majesty!

The exception to the rule would be Ray Winstone, who acts with professionalism, more subdued, without the overstatements of his counterparts, especially the tormented DiCaprio.

Most of the public and the critics disagree evidently.

Moreover, they are right, most likely.

In his classic of psychology, Influence, Robert Cialdini explains the principles that Influence our actions and decisions.

Among them, there would be the principle of conformity, which seems to be at play in the acting of The Departed.

If one, especially when two, of the leading lights adopt an excessive, inflated, amplified manner of overacting, the others would be Influenced and this would explain the aggrandizement of many gestures, face movements and mannerisms.

Otherwise, the plot may have flaws too, that is if you discard the vision of the experts and the majority of the audiences and listen to this odd opinion.

The film won Oscars for Best Film, Director, Writing and yet for the under signed it feels that the verisimilitude is lacking.

One undercover cop, Billy Costigan aka Leonardo DiCaprio, works for the good, while Colin Sullivan aka Matt Damon works for the villain, Frank Costello aka Jack Nicholson, but the twists and changes appear to have little to do with reality, which can be complicated, but the plot becomes so twisted that for one viewer at least it became rather annoying.

As if one mole in each camp were not enough, another insider shows at a critical moment, but it already felt that this could be working in a comedy, not in a dead serious crime story.

You most likely love the film.

I am not crazy about it.