To take down South Boston's Irish Mafia, the police send in one of their own to infiltrate the underworld, not realizing the syndicate has done likewise. While an undercover cop curries favor with the mob kingpin, a career criminal rises through the police ranks. But both sides soon discover there's a mole among them.
What makes this a Scorsese film, and not merely a retread, is the director's use of actors, locations and energy, and its buried theme. I am fond of saying that a movie is not about what it's about; it's about how it's about it.
– Roger Ebert,
Chicago Sun-Times,
6 Jul 2007
fresh:
[A] very entertaining, densely layered, just-short-of-fabulous melodrama.
– Richard Corliss,
TIME Magazine,
24 Feb 2013
fresh:
It's one of the year's best pictures. It's also one of Martin Scorsese's best. And when you think of some other films he's made, that's saying something.
– Joel Siegel,
Good Morning America,
23 Jan 2015
fresh:
This crime thriller is a profane, blood-drenched joy to watch.
– Bob Mondello,
NPR,
25 Jan 2015
rotten:
Not only is The Departed not among the best of Scorsese's films; it's not even the best version of this film.