I think cell phones are criminal.
They allow perpetually rude and self-absorbed people to ignore everything around them. They distract drivers who insist on talking while moving. In “The Departed,” they’re the principal element in causing all kinds of trouble.
From within the police department, undercover mobster Colin Sullivan (Matt Damon) calls mob boss Frank Costello (Jack Nicholson) and warns him of impending trouble. Undercover cop Billy Costigan (Leonardo DiCaprio) works with Costello and text messages his contacts back in the department. And no one notices.
Why? Because they’re all so damn used to cell phones that none of them can tell when somebody is using a cell for sneaky purposes. Like in real life, it’s assumed that if you’re on a cell, you must be cool and important.
Director Martin Scorsese seems to be phoning it in too. “The Departed” is a remake of the highly regarded Hong Kong film “Infernal Affairs,” and Scorsese fills the screen with so many movie stars and recognizable character actors that it’s more like an actor’s runway than a real film. Like models, each actor kind of struts across the screen until the next one comes along.
Beyond all that, there’s something depressingly empty about the story. Costigan is so deep undercover so soon in his career that it’s not long before he’s been a “criminal” longer than he’s been a cop. Despite Costigan’s work, the cops are unable to bust Costello because of Sullivan’s work as a rat for the mob.
Sullivan has been a “cop” longer than he’s been a criminal and doesn’t really know which way is up. He provides Costello with the information he needs to elude the police. Not only do the cops not see Sullivan for what he really is, they do what any bureaucratic organization does with incompetents: they promote him.
Costigan actually makes a great point in the middle of the movie that goes unanswered. The cops know Costello is a murderer, so why not prosecute him for murder instead of pursuing an elaborate case for selling microprocessors to the Chinese? No answer is given, and the cops just go on their merry way, oblivious to the carnage.
Maybe Costigan would have done better to text the question in.
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Better than: “The Aviator”
Worse than: “Raging Bull”
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