美国版《无间道》赢得世界失去自己

The last shot leaves us with its controlling image...that of a rat scampering across the balcony rail of a high rise condo that looks out on a golden dome in Boston.It invokes the holy Muslim Shrines of the Middle East but for Colin Sullivan (Matt Damon), the gold is more literal. An orphan raised by crime lord Frank Costello (Jack Nicholson), Sullivan wants the gold and all it brings with it. He aspires to the high life, the upper class he's spent his life trying to deceive his way into. He even picks his girlfriend Madolyn (Vera Farmiga) because she's going to be a doctor.
The Departed is Scorses's best film of late. It lacks the pretentious underpinnings and ponderous style of The Gangs of New York and The Aviator and feels more like a throwaway genre film for him. Of course, it's a genre he nearly created--at least for the modern era--starting with Mean Streets and culminating with Goodfellas. The film is loose, fast, surprising and multitudinously profane. It should be the biggest box office grosser of his career.

Besides the masterful direction of Scorsese, the real reason to see the film is the cast and their fantastic performances. Mark Wahlberg sizzles in a supporting role that's sharp-edged, fast, and funny...a James Cagney-like role. Nicholson clown-princes his way through every frame. His work is closer to his antics as the Joker in Batman than his nuanced, deeply felt work in As Good As it Gets and About Schmidt. But it's still Jack Nicholson in a Martin Scorsese film for freaks' sake!