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Having had a long discussion about martin Scorcesse with Jamie from the film space and cal Fraser this was probably one of Scorcesses most famous films that I haven't seen. Fate rested solely into my hands as walking into a charity shop I saw it for £1.50 and jumped into buying it. Raging bull is one of my most favourite films (something I share with director Brett Ratner) so I wasn't really jumping in half heartedly and the credibility that it generated during its release in 2006 meant it was a film that was on my radar to see. So let's see if it eclipsed my love of raging bull or was it really as good as people say it is?

The first thing that strikes you before you even watch the film is the ensemble cast,

Leonardo Di Caprio, Matt Damon, Jack Nicholson, Alec Baldwin, Martin Sheen, Ray Winstone and Mark Wahlberg to name but a few. Ill let it be known that I'm not a fan of Di Caprio (sorry Jamie) as most of his films are disappointing (The Beach, Titanic, Romeo and Juliet to name a few). Matt Damon is brilliantly underated and im pleased for him that the Bourne franchise let everyone know that he is a really talented guy. Jack Nicholson is good at being the joker (no I don't mean that as a pun) so he fits right in with The Departed and Mark Wahlberg is surprisingly good in this film , rightly being nominated for best supporting actor which is unfortunately lost to Alan Arkin from Little Miss Sunshine. You can't have a gangster film without Ray Winstone and he is like he always is, rough and ready. So before even beginning to review the film, you can see that the director has thought about who should be cast and also thrown in a few surprises as well. Already it has the signs that it's another Scorcesse classic.

Leonardo DiAs you watch the film you begin to see the usual Scorcesse direction, long shots and slow takes and the plot is fairly quickly established through the character development that takes place early in the film. Sometime Scorcesse should be vigorisly praised for is the way he lures you in slowly enough that he keeps you wanting to find out more. Matt Damon's character is quickly shown to be trained by Jack Nicholson character Costello to be a mole inside the Massachusetts State Police for the mafia that Costello is head of. Di Caprio's character Costigan is shown to not be accepted into the police in exchange for going undercover as an agent inside Costello's gang. The only two people that are aware that Costigan is an undercover agent is Captain Oliver Queenan (Martin Sheen) and staff sergeant Sean Dignam (Wahlberg) who are shown together to be the good cop bad cop relationship throughout the film and Wahlberg surprisingly plays the cop with a chip on his shoulder really convincingly and he and sheen play of each other really well.

One of the most significant characters in the film other than the obvious ones is Vera Farmiga character Madolyn Madden who plays a cop psychiatrist and enters a relationship with both Sullivan at first and then Costigan later in the film, leading to her being the connection between the two. This plot as I was watching reminds me of the John Woo film Face off where they swap identities, the only significant difference is they actually swap rather than being moles. Both films involve the two characters use of their partners as plot devises to connect the two major characters in the film.

The film centres around the two moles gaining information and then finding out who the mole is from the two sides i.e. taking each other out before the other finds them out. Jack Nicholson is the humour element, rather like his stint in batman as the joker his off the cuff remarks and often crude humour lets you know that he is around, sometimes on occasion stealing the scene. Matt Damon is brilliant as Sullivan as some of the best scenes are his angry exchanges between him and Dignam in trying to find out who the undercover agent is. The films brilliantly shot and like a multi character story film like no country for old men it is all carefully planned out and ends in a very clever and unexpected way. As I said earlier Scorcesse should be praised for the bits he leaves for you to fill in the gaps, such as what happens next and how the ending ended up happening. It's the mark of the great filmmaker that he doesn't spoonfed you every single detail thats needed, you can try and figure it out for yourself.

So is it as good as Taxi Driver, Goodfellas or my personal favourite Raging Bull? I think first and foremost it justifies being best picture and best director and I can totally get why Wahlberg got nominated as he is very enjoyable and believable as the right hand man for the deadpan Martin Sheen. Its definitely a classic, as entertainment weekly put it Scorcesse has shown his brilliance by having made classic films in the last three decades. Im not sure its as good as Goodfellas, but having said that, does it need to be? Its definitely a recent classic and the cast do a terrific job of maintaining that standard (Di Caprio is really good in this as well) but In my opinion Raging Bull is a film that will always standout in my mind as being scorcesses masterpiece. But The Departed is well worth being including in Scorcesses top 5 as its gripping entertaining, well casted, well directed and in short.... its a damn good movie!

Overall YRadio Score

84%