The Departed

The Departed is the American adaptation of Infernal Affairs, an action film from Hong Kong in 2002. Set in Boston, it tells the story of two men, one an undercover police officer infiltrating the mob and the other a member of the mob infiltrating the police force. Each man realizes there is someone tipping off the police and the mob, so it's a race against time to root the other out before their cover is blown. Colin Sullivan is thought to be an upstanding citizen, doing his best to uphold the law. This makes him the perfect choice to be a mole for mob boss Frank Costello because no one suspects him.  Billy Costigan on the other hand, has a somewhat tainted background due to a few of his family members having ties to Frank Costello and the mob. The Boston police force assigns him to infiltrate the mob because of his background. What follows is a crazy, fast-paced set of events in a race to uncover each mole.

I know I am going to be pretty much the only one of my friends who says this, but I personally did not care for The Departed. I'm normally ok with R-rated action flicks, but The Departed seemed to go overboard in its content. It did have me on the edge of my seat wondering which mole was going to be found out first, and it did have a couple twists that I definitely did not see coming. It also does have fantastic performances by Matt Damon, Mark Wahlberg, Leonardo diCaprio, Jack Nicholson, and Martin Sheen. Despite all of these things, I unfortunately couldn't get past the fact that this is a brutally violent film. The Departed has to be the most violent film I have seen since Saving Private Ryan, Apocalypto, or even Passion of the Christ. Every time a character gets shot blood flows like a raging river. It also had way more language than I have heard in an R-rated film in awhile. I counted over 200 f-bombs alone, most of them seem like they were uttered by Jack Nicholson (not a huge surprise there). I felt that much violence and language was unnecessary. I was ok with the R-rating, I just wish Martin Scorcese would have toned it down a little.

I really wish I could recommend The Departed, but I can't due to the excessive violence and language.