The Departed

Martin Scorsese's The Departed is a partial return to form after the dreadful Gangs of New York and the uninspiring Howard Hughes' biopic The Aviator. I had a tough time differentiating between DiCaprio as the undercover cop and Damon as the undercover crook, though, ironically, their interchangeability added almost as much to this pleasingly symetrical movie as their insipid performances erased. Nicholson and Wahlberg were a blast though and Scorcese's movie was as tough and hard-boiled as DePalma's disappointing Dahlia was camp and soft-centred. William's Monahan's "Mamet on steroids" dialogue was great:

"I don't want to be a product of my environment. I want my environment to be a product of me."

"How's your mother?"
"On her way out."
"We all are. Act accordingly."