The Departed- Movie Review

First off, let me start off by saying I'm pretty stoked to be writing my first ever blog. Let's start with one of my favorite movies of all-time, The Departed. Now I know this may be an older title, but seeing as how this is my first ever blog post, I wanted to make it a good one. Now the focal point in this piece of cinematic genius is the incredible cast which features Leonardo DiCaprio, Jack Nicholson, Matt Damon, and Mark Wahlberg. With a lineup like this, director Martin Scorsese had no trouble making this film seemingly seamless. The overall feel to this movie, like many Scorsese titles, is very tense, meaning you never know what to expect! Now, I'll give you the overall overview.
The movie is set in South Boston, where Billy Costigan(Leonardo DiCaprio) and Colin Sullivan(Matt Damon) are currently living. Sullivan and Costigan have been assigned to the same investigative police unit. The twist here is that Sullivan has ties and direct contact with the biggest organized crime boss in Boston, Frank Costello(Jack Nicholson). The 'true' policeman is Costigan, who upon arrival to his interview for a position in the unit, is assigned to go undercover and infiltrate Costello's gang. Following Costigan's undercover assignment and Sullivan's assignment to the Special Investigations Unit, a series of false leads, leaked information from both infiltrators, betrayal, and deception leads to the climax when Costigan and Sullivan come face-to-face in Sullivan's office. Not knowing that the other man is the rat playing for the other side, they act normal. It's only when Sullivan leaves his office to find information on Costigan that Costigan finds evidence that the head of the SIU is actually working for Costello. One of the final and, by far, one of the bloodiest scenes in the movie comes when Costigan arrests Sullivan on top of an abandoned building. Another officer follows to find Costigan with a gun to Sullivan's head. Not convinced but not completely unconvinced that Costigan's story that Sullivan is a rat is true, the officer does not shoot but merely follows Costigan and his hostage down some floors of the building. The officer takes the stairs while the other two take the elevator. Before they exit, the doors open and all that is heard and seen is a bullet fired through Costigan's head, killing him. Sullivan, still handcuffed is dumbfounded and scared for his life. However, the man who fired the shot takes off the cuffs and tells Sullivan that he also worked for Costello. The officer who had been following down the stairs finds the dead Costigan and is bewildered. He is then shot down by Sullivan's savior. Although he just saved Sullivan, Sullivan, knowing that this man would disrupt any chance of normal life, shoots him in the head. In the final scene, Sullivan opens his apartment door to find Dignam(Mark Wahlberg), the one in SIU who didn't trust Sullivan, in his home with a silenced pistol in hand. Dignam gets his own form of justice by shooting Sullivan in the head, leaving him dead on his apartment floor. A rat appears on the railing outside the apartment, which obviously represents the deception and secrecy Sullivan had done.
Overall one of the best movies I've ever seen due to a hell of a cast, a genius director, and of course, the talent on the set of the Departed. -Master