TUCKER'S TAKE on 'The Departed"

Movie Review by Lyle Tucker

THE DEPARTED
directed by Martin Scorsese, with Jack Nicholson, Leonardo Di Caprio, Vera Farmiga, Matt Damon, Martin Sheen, Mark Wahlberg, Ray Winstone and Alec Baldwin.

Scorsese *will* win the Best Director Oscar this year - both for this movie and for his body of work. The first hour of this almost three-hour-long film is absolutely brilliant - the leanest storytelling you're likely to see - not an ounce of fat nor waste.

Nicholson and Di Caprio take the show, especially Di Caprio. Everybody else is solid. The story is captivating, although with a few holes on retrospection, but the ending is very logical and satisfying. Vera Farmiga is simply yummy, and I want to see her other movies now.

The time flies by as this movie does not know how to drag - which is not to say it's an actionfest the way CRANK was. It simply is engaging from beginning to end. The parallel storyline of police mole and of gangster mole operating at the same time is truly fascinating. Highly recommended, don't miss unless foul language and graphic violence bother you.