In just a few days, Netflix is set to loose a handful of titles that were on loan from other studios.
One of the flicks heading out the door is The Departed, a 2006 crime epic directed by Martin Scorsese.
This movie boasted an A-list cast led by Leonardo DiCaprio and Matt Damon, and it finally got Scorsese an Oscar. But it’s rarely mentioned as one of his best films.
That’s why Watch With Us has picked The Departed as the underrated movie you have to see before it leaves Netflix at the end of September.
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It Features Leonardo DiCaprio and Matt Damon at Their Best
Matt Damon has made a career out of playing good guys or heroic underdogs. That made him the right choice to play Staff Sergeant Colin Sullivan, a clean-cut-looking police officer who was secretly a spy for mob boss Frank Costello (Jack Nicholson). This is known to the audience from the start, but Damon’s persona was very different in this movie. Colin does truly evil things, and he earns the audience’s hatred.
On the opposite side, Trooper William “Billy” Costigan Jr. (DiCaprio) is a cop who is deep undercover in Frank’s organization, and the things he has to do to maintain his cover are destroying his soul from the inside. DiCaprio plays Billy as a man haunted by what he’s done and deeply afraid that he won’t ever be able to resume his true identity as a cop. Only a handful in the police even know his secret, and it leaves him completely isolated. DiCaprio conveys all of that through his body and face, and he’s mesmerizing to watch.
Jack Nicholson Has a Truly Menacing Presence
The Departed needed someone with believable intensity to play Frank, and Jack Nicholson more than fit the bill. This film came out a few years before Nicholson’s retirement, and it’s arguably the best movie from his twilight as a performer. Frank is capable of putting on an acceptable persona for society, but he’s terrifying in the moments when he lets his mask slip and shows the audience who he really is.
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Frank’s character was based on a real mobster, Whitey Bulger, but if you know too much about Bulger going into this movie, then it gives away some of the surprises. Let’s just say that Frank didn’t stay on top of the criminal underworld without a little help.
The Cat and Mouse Game Is Incredibly Tense
Relatively early in the movie, the police realize that they have a mole among them. Around the same time, Frank’s crew figures out that someone is spying on them from within. Colin and Billy are the respective moles, and they’re both tasked with finding each other’s true identity without even realizing it.
That story turns The Departed into a paranoid thriller, as Billy is particularly cautious about whom he can trust as the walls close in on him. To further twist the knife, Billy and Colin are also seeing the same woman, Dr. Madolyn Madden (Vera Farmiga). She ends up knowing them better than anyone else, and it’s very telling which one she snubs. Billy and Colin do get a final confrontation, but it plays out in such an unexpected way that the film catches you off guard. This is a Martin Scorsese movie, after all, and he’s a director who has rarely gone for a perfectly happy ending.
The Departed is streaming on Netflix through September 30.
