Barnes & Noble

This Americanized remake of a highly acclaimed Chinese thriller, Infernal Affairs was welcomed as a return to form for director Martin Scorsese. The Departed takes place in Boston, where Irish Mafia kingpin Frank Costello (a superb Jack Nicholson) rules the local underworld with an iron hand while terrifying law-abiding citizens. Costello plants a carefully groomed “mole,” Colin Sullivan (Matt Damon), in the local police department. Unbeknownst to either of them, the department has placed its own mole, Billy Costigan (Leonardo DiCaprio), in Costello’s gang. It’s only a matter of time before both moles are suspected and put in grave danger. Under Scorsese’s direction, the intriguing plot generates nearly unbearable suspense, which is periodically interrupted with staccato bursts of savage violence, flamboyantly staged for jarring effect. There’s additional tension in a subplot that finds Sullivan’s therapist girlfriend (Vera Farmiga) attracted to one of her ex-patients, the increasingly nervous Costigan. The principals all turn in sensational performances, as do the film’s key supporting players: Martin Sheen, Alec Baldwin, Ray Winstone, and Academy Award nominee Mark Wahlberg. Nobody has ever gotten into the heads of mobsters quite as well as Scorsese, and in this complex, multilayered story, he’s finally found the perfect vehicle for his incomparable talents. Ed Hulse

All Movie Guide

Legendary director Martin Scorsese takes the helm for this tale of questionable loyalties and blurring identities set in the South Boston organized crime scene and inspired by the wildly popular 2002 Hong Kong crime film Infernal Affairs. 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 (Leonardo DiCaprio) is a young cop looking to make a name for himself in the world of law enforcement. Collin Sullivan (Matt Damon) 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 (Jack Nicholson). 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. Martin Sheen, Alec Baldwin, and Ray Winstone co-star, and writer William Monahan adapts a screenplay originally penned by Alan Mak and Felix Chong. Jason Buchanan

Product Details

• UPC: 085391117292
• Source: WARNER HOME VIDEO
• Presentation: Wide Screen
• Sound: Dolby AC-3 Surround Sound
• Editions: Subtitled, Dubbed
• Time: 2:31:00
• Sales Rank: 3,702

This DVD is also available as part of a box set:

• Scorsese Collection
• Best of Blu-Ray, Vol. 3

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