The Departed

In South Boston, Colin Sullivan is introduced to Irish Mob boss Frank Costello. Twenty years later, Sullivan has been groomed as a mole inside the Massachusetts State Police (MSP) and joins the Special Investigations Unit, led by Captain Ellerby. Another recruit, State Trooper Billy Costigan Jr., is approached by Captain Queenan and Staff Sergeant Dignam to go undercover and infiltrate Costello's crew. They set up a cover: Costigan serves time in jail on a phony charge and eventually joins Costello's crew. Ellerby informs Special Investigations that only Queenan and Dignam will know their undercovers' names and that Costello's crew has stolen computer microprocessors to sell to a Hong Kong Triad. Due to being undercover, Costigan's emotional state declines, but Queenan and Dignam plead with him to keep his cover.

Sullivan begins a romance with police psychiatrist Dr. Madolyn Madden. The MSP prepares to catch Costello selling the microprocessors; however, Sullivan tips off Costello about the police presence causing the deal to occur off-camera, allowing everyone to escape. Costello realizes there is a spy in his crew and tasks Sullivan to uncover his identity. Sullivan asks Costello for information to cross-reference his crew members in the MSP database. Meanwhile, Costigan learns that Costello is a protected FBI informant, and Costello accuses Costigan of being the spy within his crew, which he denies. Costigan shares his discovery with Queenan and warns that Costello is aware of a spy within his crew, and tells Dignam that there's spy in the MSP. Other than Queenan and Dignam, Costigan’s only contact in the MSP is Madolyn Madden, Sullivan’s girlfriend, with whom he later has an affair.

Costigan follows Costello into a theater and witnesses him giving Sullivan an envelope. Queenan instructs Costigan to get a visual ID of Sullivan before making the arrest but Costigan is unable to get a good look at Sullivan's face; when Sullivan realizes that he is being followed he attempts to hide and stab Costigan as he walks by but mistakenly kills a restaurant worker and flees the scene. Sullivan then tries to cross-reference Costigan’s picture, captured by nearby security footage, against police officer databases but cannot recognize him.

Queenan advises Sullivan to follow Costello to find the MSP mole. Costigan calls Queenan and sets up a meeting but Sullivan has Queenan tailed by another officer by lying to the officer about Queenan being the possible spy. Sullivan uses the tail's information on their location to call in Costello's gang. When Costello's men arrive, Queenan helps Costigan escape before confronting them and being thrown from the building's roof to his death.

As a result of Queenan's murder, Sullivan is attacked by an enraged Dignam who is then suspended by Ellerby shortly after. Meanwhile, one of Costello's mortally wounded henchmen, Timothy Delahunt (who is later revealed to be another undercover cop working for the local department) explains to Costigan that he is aware of his infiltration but dosen't alert the crew, until succumbing to his gunshot injury. Sullivan also learns that Costello is an FBI informant and decides to help the MSP catch him. Costello is tailed by the MSP to a cocaine drop-off, where a gunfight erupts, killing most of Costello's crew. Sullivan confronts Costello, who admits to being an FBI informant, and fatally shoots him.

When Costigan goes to Sullivan to reveal his undercover status, he notices the envelope Costello used to collect the gang's personal information to find the mole on Sullivan's desk and realizes that Sullivan is Costello's spy. Sullivan then erases Costigan's records from police computers. Costigan hands Madolyn, who has moved in with Sullivan, an envelope and instructs her to open it if something happens to him. Later, she reveals that she is pregnant to Sullivan, then opens a different letter containing tapes Costello made of himself with Sullivan, listens to them, and leaves Sullivan.

Costigan arranges to meet Sullivan on the rooftop at the building where Queenan was killed, then arrests him. Costigan calls Trooper Brown, a friend from the police academy, to substantiate his identity, but Brown pulls a gun on Costigan when he arrives, unsure who is telling the truth. Costigan says that he has evidence tying Sullivan to Costello, and Brown lets him go down the elevator. Upon reaching the lobby, Costigan and Brown are killed by Trooper Barrigan, a friend of Sullivan's, who reveals himself to be another spy working for Costello. Sullivan then shoots Barrigan dead, allowing him to out Barrigan as the mole while removing suspicion from himself. When Sullivan arrives home after attending Costigan’s funeral, Dignam (who Madolyn had presumably shown the incriminating tapes) is waiting and shoots Sullivan in the head, avenging Queenan and Costigan's deaths.

Martin Scorsese in 2006, the director of the film

In January 2003, Warner Bros., producer Brad Grey, and actor/producer Brad Pitt bought the rights to remake the Hong Kong film Infernal Affairs (2002) from Media Asia for $1.75 million.[10][11] William Monahan was secured as a screenwriter, and later Martin Scorsese, who admired Monahan's script, came on board as director.[11][7][12]

In March 2004, United Press International announced that Scorsese would be remaking Infernal Affairs and setting it in Boston, and that Leonardo DiCaprio and Brad Pitt were slated to star.[13] Pitt, tentatively scheduled to play Sullivan, later declined to play the role, saying a younger actor should play the part; he decided to produce the film instead.[12] Scorsese's associate Kenneth Lonergan suggested Matt Damon, who grew up in Boston, for the part of Sullivan, and Scorsese asked Jack Nicholson to play Costello.[7]

Nicholson wanted the film to have "something a little more" than the usual gangster film, and screenwriter Monahan came up with the idea of basing the Costello character on Irish-American gangster Whitey Bulger. This gave the screenplay an element of realism—and an element of dangerous uncertainty, because of the wide-ranging carte blanche the FBI gave Bulger in exchange for revealing information about fellow gangsters.[7] A technical consultant on the film was Tom Duffy, who had served three decades on the Boston Police Department, particularly as an undercover detective investigating the Irish mob.[14][15]

The Departed was officially greenlit by Warner Bros. in early 2005 and began shooting in the spring of 2005.[11] Some of the film was shot on location in Boston. For budgetary and logistical reasons many scenes, in particular interiors, were shot in locations and sets in New York City, which had tax incentives for filmmakers that Boston at the time did not.[7][16]

Film critic Stanley Kauffmann said that for The Departed, Scorsese "was apparently concerned with the idea of identity, one of the ancient themes of drama, and how it affects one's actions, emotions, self-knowledge, even dreams." Kauffmann, however, did not find the theme conveyed with particular effectiveness in the film.[17] Film critic Roger Ebert compared Costigan and Sullivan's seeking of approval from those they are deceiving to Stockholm syndrome.[18] Ebert also noted the themes of Catholic guilt.[18]

In the final scene, a rat is seen on Sullivan's window ledge. Scorsese acknowledges that while it is not meant to be taken literally, it somewhat symbolizes the "quest for the rat" in the film and the strong sense of distrust among the characters, much like post-9/11 U.S. The window view behind the rat is a nod to gangster films like Little Caesar (1931), Scarface (1932), and White Heat (1949).[19]

Throughout the film, Scorsese uses an "X" motif to foreshadow death in a manner similar to Howard Hawks' film Scarface (1932). Examples include shots of cross-beam supports in an airport walkway when Costigan is phoning Sgt. Dignam, the taped windows of the building Queenan enters before being thrown to his death, behind Costigan's head in the elevator before he is shot, and the carpeted hallway floor when Sullivan returns to his apartment before being shot by Dignam at the film's end.[20]

Jim Emerson, writing for RogerEbert.com, noted that Nicholson's character, and possibly Damon's, may be read as latently homosexual. He also notes that the inspiration for Nicholson's character, Bulger, was reportedly bisexual.[21]

The Departed grossed $132.4 million in the United States and Canada and $159 million in other territories for a total gross of $291.5 million, against a production budget of $90 million.[1]

The film grossed $26.9 million in its opening weekend, becoming the fourth Scorsese film to debut at number one.[22] In the following three weeks the film grossed $19 million, $13.5 million and $9.8 million, finishing second at the box office each time, before grossing $7.7 million and dropping to 5th in its fifth week.[23]

On review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes, the film holds a 90% approval rating based on 284 reviews, with an average rating of 8.30/10. The website's critics consensus reads, "Featuring outstanding work from an excellent cast, The Departed is a thoroughly engrossing gangster drama with the gritty authenticity and soupy morality we have come to expect from Martin Scorsese."[24] Metacritic, which uses a weighted average, assigned the film a score of 85 out of 100 based on 39 critics, indicating "universal acclaim".[25] Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "A−" on an A+ to F scale.[26]

Entertainment Weekly ranked it on its end-of-the-decade "Best of" list, saying: "If they're lucky, directors make one classic film in their career. Martin Scorsese has one per decade (Taxi Driver in the '70s, Raging Bull in the '80s, Goodfellas in the '90s). His 2006 Irish Mafia masterpiece kept the streak alive."[27]

Roger Ebert gave the film four stars out of four, praising Scorsese for thematically differentiating his film from the original.[18] Online critic James Berardinelli awarded the film four stars out of four, praising it as "an American epic tragedy." He went on to claim that the film deserves to be ranked alongside Scorsese's past successes, including Taxi Driver, Raging Bull and Goodfellas.[28]

Andrew Lau, the co-director of Infernal Affairs, who was interviewed by Hong Kong newspaper Apple Daily, said: "Of course I think the version I made is better, but the Hollywood version is pretty good too. [Scorsese] made the Hollywood version more attuned to American culture." Andy Lau,[29] one of the main actors in Infernal Affairs, when asked how the movie compares to the original, said: "The Departed was too long and it felt as if Hollywood had combined all three Infernal Affairs movies together."[30]

Although Lau said the script of the remake had some "golden quotes", he also felt it had a bit too much profanity. He ultimately rated The Departed eight out of ten and said that the Hollywood remake is worth a view, though according to Lau's spokeswoman Alice Tam, he felt that the combination of the two female characters into one in The Departed was not as good as the original storyline.[31]

A few critics were disappointed in the film, including J. Hoberman of the Village Voice, who wrote: "Infernal Affairs was surprisingly cool and effectively restrained for HK action, but Scorsese raises the temperature with every ultraviolent interaction. The surplus of belligerence and slur reach near-Tarantinian levels—appropriate as he's staking a claim to QT's turf."[32]

The Departed was released by Warner Home Video on DVD in 2007. The film is available in a single-disc full screen (1.33:1), single-disc widescreen (2.40:1) edition, and 2-disc special edition. The second disc contains deleted scenes; a feature about the influence of New York's Little Italy on Scorsese; a Turner Classic Movies profile; and a 21-minute documentary titled Stranger Than Fiction: The True Story of Whitey Bulger, Southie and The Departed[42] about the crimes that influenced Scorsese in creating the film, including the story of James "Whitey" Bulger, upon whom Jack Nicholson's character is based.[43]

Although many of the key characters in the film are dead by the end, there was a script written for a sequel. This was ultimately shelved due to the expense and Scorsese's lack of interest in creating a sequel.[47]

• List of American films of 2006
• "The Debarted", an episode of The Simpsons that parodies the film.

• Brad Balfour (2006). "Martin Scorsese, Leonardo DiCaprio, Matt Damon, Vera Farmiga and William Monahan (Transcripts of two 40-minute press conference sessions)". PopEntertainment. Retrieved September 10, 2007.

Wikiquote has quotations related to The Departed.

• Official website
• The Departed at IMDb
• The Departed at the TCM Movie Database
• The Departed at AllMovie
• The Departed at Rotten Tomatoes
• The Departed at Metacritic
• The Departed at Box Office Mojo