I haven’t watched a mobster movie this good since Goodfellas. I would not say that The Departed was better than the former, but it did stand out enough to be mentioned alongside it. The acting was stellar, the screenplay was thick and complex, and the character development was excellent.

The Departed took many twists and turns, but even with this complex web of story lines, the end the movie came together flawlessly for quite a surprising ending. I personally thought that there were a couple parts that could have been left out of the film, but they were trivial enough that it did not detract from the main story.

Although all the acting was excellent, no one stood out more for me than Leonardo Dicaprio. I’m not a very big fan of his films, but he has proved to me that he is more than just a baby-faced star on the big screen. He has grown up and his role as Billy Costigan was perhaps the most convincing role I’ve seen him in as a veteran actor. He really brought his character to life.

I enjoyed this film thoroughly. It brought to life all the realities and conflicts of an organized crime syndicate. In the end, The Departed left you with this simple yet underrated message. Crime doesn’t pay.

Synopsis:

Years ago, a powerful Irish mafia figure placed a small selection of his youngest, brightest men into the Massachusetts Police Academy as cadets. Their purpose is to eventually rise within the prestigious ranks of the city’s police department, to serve as the eyes and ears of their boss. While somewhere else, a young cadet was assigned with an equally dangerous task: infiltrate the Irish syndicate headed by the man sending in his own to the Boston Police. Now, one cadet is an up and coming police official with a torn allegiance to his job and to the criminal mastermind that put him there. While the other cadet is the trusted number two of that man, only finding his professional duties are becoming blurred with his current state. But new clues have lead to unfortunate discoveries, when both sides realize they’re being watched by the enemy. It’s now all just a matter of time before the men assigned to find out whose the infiltrator, could come to a bloody end when someone’s identity may be revealed.