Movie Review: The Departed

Martin Scorsese's "The Departed" is a firework set off in a crowded room. There are a lot of twists, turns and explosions — and someone is bound to lose a head along the way.

Powerful Boston crime boss Frank Costello (Jack Nicholson) keeps the bodies piling up and always stays one step ahead of the police. His secret weapon? Colin Sullivan (Matt Damon), an elite officer in the Special Investigations Unit, who stays on Costello's payroll by ratting out police movements.

Stuck in the middle of it all is Billy Costigan (Leonardo DiCaprio), an undercover cop almost nobody knows about who is charged with infiltrating Costello's gang of crooks.

And, oh yeah, Sullivan and Costigan are sleeping with the same woman (Vera Farmiga) whose day job is a police psychologist.

The performances are what set this film apart from other cops-and-robbers cookie-cutters. Nicholson plays Costello better than Satan himself, twisting his face in unholy contortions after each kill. He also has a passion for women, cocaine and finding any rats in his crew.

DiCaprio plays the straight man with a thinly veiled rage and Damon does well by reprising his accent from "Good Will Hunting" and channeling his spring-coiled Jason Bourne.

But all the great lines are reserved for take-no-prisoners cop Dignam (Mark Wahlberg), who never met an F-word he didn't like or a fellow cop he did.

The script, written by William Monahan ("Kingdom of Heaven") is surprisingly light on its feet — it's smart, it's funny and it's cruel. And it fell into the hands of a master filmmaker, who doesn't appear to care if he wins an Oscar anymore.

The academy tends to shy away from films with this many gunshot wounds unless they're taking place during World War II.

The only weakness comes near the end: All the loose ends are too quickly tied together. While the finish is still satisfying, it lacks the complexity of what set the movie apart in the first place.

Still, "The Departed" doesn't let you take a breath or look away. Much like Scorsese's "Goodfellas," the characters start their dirty work with the cleanest intentions, yet everything ends up blood-red at the end.

The Verdict: *** 1/2