Martin Scorsese is back on the 'Mean Streets'

'The Departed'

Rating: R
Directed by: Martin Scorsese
Running Time: 2 hours 31 minutes

If you haven't seen The Departed, then don't consider yourself a fan of movies.

Based on the Hong Kong thriller Infernal Affairs, Scorsese has brought a masterpiece to American cinema. There has never been a better cat and mouse flick. He handles with great ease guns, murder, plot twists, coke, love triangles, betrayal, and cranberry juice.

The film follows Billy Costigan (Leonardo Di Caprio), a wannabe state trooper from the Southie Projects in Boston. He is assigned to be a rat in Costello's crew, the biggest mafia boss in all of Boston. As if there isn't enough Billy has to fear, there is a rat in the police department, Colin Sullivan (Matt Damon).

It's a fast paced game of who can smoke the other rat out first before one of them is exposed. It's not so easy when both are experts in keeping their cool and their hands steady. They have to live their lies in constant paranoia and loneliness. Scorsese purposely blurs the lines between good and bad so it's hard to tell who to trust. As Costello (Jack Nicholson) says, "When you're facing a loaded gun, what's the difference."

Costello's character is down right devious in the film. When he shoots a woman in the back of the head as she awaits her death, she falls the the ground from her knees, and Costello remarks, "She fell funny." He is a villain taken to the extreme. In one instance he takes women back to his room and throws cocaine all over their bodies like a coating of snow and says, "Don't move until you are numb."

Jack Nicholson plays this part like he were let loose out of a cage, which isn't a bad thing. All the other actors are also superb. It helps that the actors are given characters with depth to work with. Leonardo Di Caprio gives his first mature performance. Mark Wahlberg steals every one of his scenes. And Alec Baldwin is hysterical.

This is a film that needs to be seen, not talked about. There are so many moments of pure brilliance, no water cooler discussion will ever do it justice. This is the best film of 2006, and Scorsese's best since Taxi Driver.

The Departed feels very reminiscent of Goodfellas, but that's not to suggest it's a rehash; it's Scorsese taking what he knows - crime dramas - and making the best of it. When a director can maintain humor, tension, and intrigue on the screen all at once, the director has done something right. Scorsese does something right every five minutes.