Review of The Departed (2006) by Tsud — 02 Nov 2010

Solid performances from all actors but once again DiCaprio especially impresses me. He's undercover, struggling with unimaginable anxiety and paranoia which he barely manages to keep a lid on through abuse of anxiolytics and he delivers us a solid and believable character.

Mark Wahlberg's outrageous swearing and in-your-face attitude reminds us there are few, if any, true heroes out there. Faced with the reality of sociopathic criminals and blood-ridden crime scenes even the good guys get gritty. And on the topic of sociopathy, Jack Nicholson unflinchingly becomes the personification of depravity. For me, the graphic violence and bad language is justified: these are men pushed to their limits. And the death of the characters (especially the unexpected death of DiCaprio's character) is shocking and therefore the violence of their deaths should also be shocking.