As the police force attempts to reign in the increasingly powerful Irish mafia, authorities are faced with the prospect of sending in an undercover agent or seeing their already frail grip on the criminal underworld slip even further. Billy Costigan is a young cop looking to make a name for himself in the world of law enforcement. Collin Sullivan is a street-smart criminal who has successfully infiltrated the police department with the sole intention of reporting their every move to ruthless syndicate head Frank Costello. When Costigan is assigned the task of working his way into Costello's tightly guarded inner circle, Sullivan is faced with the responsibility of rooting out the informer before things get out of hand. With the stakes constantly rising and time quickly running out for the undercover cop and his criminal counterpart, each man must work feverishly to reveal his counterpart before his identity is exposed by the other.
This is a very complex film where everything is not all that it appears. There are so many great characters (and good actors) who are part of the story that you have to pay attention to take them all in. Trying to figure out who are the good guys and who are the bad guys isn't as easy as it sounds either. This is one of the few films which has a cast of big name stars and is actually good - it deserves all the positive attention it has received. The plot is very well thought out and culminates in a pretty shocking ending that will make you want to watch it again since there are inevitably some things you missed during the first viewing.
Rating: 4.5 of 5 stars
Would I watch it again: Yes
Starring: Leonardo DiCaprio, Matt Damon, Jack Nicholson, Mark Wahlberg, Martin Sheen, Alec Baldwin
I typically watch movies on Monday, Wednesday and Friday while riding the ACE Train from Tracy to Santa Clara. The opinions expressed are those of me, myself and I.
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I did not like this film. I watched it because it was getting a lot of recognition by the Academy Awards . . . I should have known.
This movie was either fast or slow. Some scenes seems slow and sometimes irrelevant, other action scenes seemed quick and, at the end of each, I felt like I had to figure out who was dead and who was still alive.
Jack Nicholson was a joke and has proven again that he is too old to make good movies. DiCaprio was alright, but again somewhat hard to follow.
This movie gets a 2 of 5 and may find its way to the "sell pile." It is simply long, somewhat confusing, and very violent. I thought the storyline was also weak. I'm on the fence whether I would ever even attempt to watch this one again.
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