Wednesday 18th March

The Departed

Director: Martin Scorsese
Year: 2006
Stars: Leonardo DiCaprio, Matt Damon, Jack Nicholson, Mark Wahlberg, Martin Sheen, Ray Winstone

I wasn't expecting much from this. Scorsese has his moments, but recently I've not really enjoyed his movies - The Aviator, for me at least, was not a pleasant experience, just a very long one. So I approached this more out of curiosity than a true belief that I'd enjoy myself.

I'm pleased to say I was very pleasantly surprised. The plot focuses on two men who join the State Police, one of whom becomes an undercover cop nobody knows about, one of whom belongs to the criminal gang and is, if you like, an undercover criminal that none of the police know about. It's a long film, with a running time of about 3 hours, but it kept me totally engaged and the only thing that meant I ended up watching it in two halves was the fact that it finished at 1am on a Sunday night. I couldn't wait to watch the finale Monday night though!

One thing that does stand out is Leonardo DiCaprio's performance in this. I'd heard the rave reviews but not really believed them, not having been that impressed with DiCaprio in the past. But on the strength of this and Revolutionary Road, he's an actor who has matured massively, and I can only hope there's more of the same to come.

Rating: 4 out f 5 (it loses a point for the massive amount of unnecessary swearing that does nothing except distract you from the plot).