The Departed (R)

I generally avoid violence-for-the-sake-of-violence type movies but I've had a little thing for mob/mafia/goodfella movies since way back when. The Departed falls into that category, following a certain Boston Baddie through the years as he trains up rats and drops them into the Boston PD and learns that rats have infiltrated his own organization.

It's a movie about trust and who you can and who you can't. It's a movie about good guys and bad guys and figuring who is what and where the line blurs. It's a movie about justice beyond the badge.

It's also a movie about cell phones (could they have made it without them? what did baddies do before them?) and angry Bostonians.

My favorite player was Martin Sheet in his calm, cool, collected, Captain-y way. Leonardo DiCaprio was damn good, walking the line between goodie and baddie and losing his mind along the way. Matt Damon was pretty one-dimensional ... maybe two. It was hard to really get with him, but maybe that's because he's Irish and he doesn't open up (his own admission). Markie Mark lost me and Alec Baldwin lost out on an opportunity for that beefy, snarky, too-good-for-you bit he does so well. And Jack Nicholson ... well, he was Jack Nicholson. No surprises there.

Watch out for the length -- we watched it over two nights -- and the falling scene at 244 Wash. Ignore the silly technology (um, delete key? really? it's that easy?). Otherwise, turn off your cell phone, sit back, and enjoy it!

4.5 staties out of 5