Both a change of pace and a return to old ground for director Martin Scorsese, The Departed is one of the most skillful and sizzling entertainments to come along in quite a while. Scorsese is known primarily as a director well-acquainted with the mean streets of New York. Most of his movies (Mean Streets, Taxi Driver, Gangs of New York, Goodfellas) are set not only physically but mentally and sociologically in NYC, steeped in the tumultuous, gritty melting-pot mentality of the metropolis. Like Woody Allen, another Manhattan-centric director who recently explored new geographic territory (London) with Match Point, Scorsese, with The Departed, shifts locations and mindsets from his old stomping ground to Boston, and in the process rejuvenates his storytelling style while at the same time clarifying what made him so brilliant a storyteller in the first place. Boston has a cool, different feel than New York, but it's no less gritty and exciting than Scorsese's old neighbourhood, and the director's trademarks, like the lightning pace, the apt, invigorating use of music (the Rolling Stones' "Gimme Shelter" and a surprisingly good remake of "Comfortably Numb" figure prominently), the meaty character development, and of course the slick brutality, are still here in abundance.

The engaging puzzle-piece plot, which has been adapted from the Hong Kong crime thriller Infernal Affairs, concerns William Costigan (Leonardo DiCaprio), an undercover agent for the "Staties" (Massachusetts State Police) who's been assigned by Captain Queenan (Martin Sheen) and Sergeant Dignam (Mark Wahlberg) to dig up info on notorious organized crime boss Frank Costello (a typically flamboyant Jack Nicholson). Costigan reports only to Queenan and Dignam; no one else knows he's even on the force, and the kid begins to chafe under the pressure of maintaining this false front while his old identity slips away.

From a cop pretending to be a criminal to a secretly loyal gangster infiltrating the squad. Colin Sullivan (Matt Damon) is, by all appearances, an eager and professional officer of the law, and is generally well-respected by his superiors, like Captain Ellerby (Alec Baldwin). However, Sullivan has been secretly leaking information to Costello, who has basically been training Sullivan for this role ever since the two first rubbed shoulders when Sullivan was a young kid. It seems Sullivan is as successful and suave at leading a double life as Costigan seems to be coming apart at the seams. Sullivan has carved out a nice life for himself with an attractive department psychiatrist named Madolyn (Vera Farmiga), but she then becomes involved with Costigan, first on a professional, then on a more intimate basis.

Of course, all these double-crosses and plot twists wouldn't amount to much if they weren't anchored by strong psychological substance and well-developed characters worth caring about, as was shown with the semi-successful mystery Identity and the completely terrible John Travolta action-fest Basic. Luckily, the meaty twists and deceptions in The Departed aren't just for show, although there is, to be sure, plenty of satisfying, showy entertainment to be had here. What are the psychological consequences of forsaking your true identity for the good of the country? Are cops and criminals really that different in intention, or can each be equally rat-like and un-Christian (this being a Scorsese movie, after all) under pressure? The swift and smart adapted screenplay by William Monahan and the great performances explore these themes while simulataneously keeping us highly interested in the core cops-and-robbers tale. DiCaprio, especially, gives a rough, riveting, complex performance as the explosive, nervous cop with something to prove, but really everyone here - Damon, exhibiting a commanding self-confidence as Sullivan; Wahlberg, in a pivotal role as the fiery, tough Dignam; Sheen as the wise old pro; Nicholson, doing some great, flashy, funny work as a casually psychopathic mob boss - operates on an impressive level.

Scorsese keeps things moving at a smooth, energized pace, and The Departed manages to feel as effortless and lightly entertaining, despite the two-and-a-half-hour running time, as his last two movies, Gangs of New York and The Aviator, were heavy, ambitious, and grandiose. Not everything works quite perfectly. Nicholson sometimes gets a bit too loose and crazy on us, espeically in a scene where he is playing around with a group of hookers and literal mountains of cocaine, Scarface-style. The psychiatrist character also seems like a typically Hollywood addition, but Fermiga does at least give her life and a will of her own as a character.

 

Nearly everything, though, from the attention-grabbing performances to the snappy, multi-layered script to the sleek visual aesthetic to the toe-tapping musical choices falls into place neatly to create a movie that's lively even as the chaotic climax reveals a quick accumulation in deaths. This is called The Departed, after all, and this is Scorsese, who naturally has a penchant for explosive depictions of violence that carry a sharp, even cynical edge, which, along with his other bountiful cinematic gifts, is put to excellent use here. Settings may change (even if much of The Departed was still shot in New York rather than Boston), but some things remain the same. I wouldn't have it any other way.