One Of The Best Crime Thrillers Ever Made Just Landed On Netflix

The Departed

Credit: Warner Bros

Dirty dealings, double-crosses, cops vs mobsters, moles vs moles. One of the best crime thrillers ever made comes to Netflix today and it’s a must-watch for any fans of the genre, and anyone who likes some great twists and turns and plenty of edge-of-your-seat suspense. Director Martin Scorsese is on fire here, and the cast is among the best in the history of cinema. The movie stars Leonardo DiCaprio, Matt Damon, Jack Nicholson, Mark Wahlberg, Martin Sheen, Vera Farmiga and Alec Baldwin.

Nearly 20 years old now, The Departed hit theaters back on October 6th, 2006. That’s almost a year before the launch of Apple’s first iPhone, and nearly two years before the housing collapse that helped win Obama the 2008 election. Given how different the world is now, it feels like a lot longer than 20 years ago.

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The movie business was different back in 2006. The Departed feels like a movie from another age of cinema entirely, and I suppose it is. The digital age was certainly dawning, but most films were still shot on 35mm film. This was pre-streaming, which meant movies could still make a lot of money through DVD sales, something the film’s star Matt Damon discussed on the popular YouTube channel, Hot Ones.

The decline in DVD and Blu-Ray sales and rise of streaming has had a noticeable impact on the kinds of movies that get made these days, and the quality of mid-tier films that once could make back a lot more of their budget after they left theaters. With the death of physical media and the slow decline of the theater business, movies are in dire straits these days. But I digress.

What’s The Departed About?

Light spoilers ahead.

The Departed is actually an adaptation of Hong Kong crime drama Internal Affairs. The story was moved from that city to Boston, MA, specifically South Boston. Jack Nicholson plays Irish Mob boss, Frank Costello. Costello plants one of his men, Colin Sullivan (Damon), as a spy within the Massachusetts State Police. Meanwhile, the police send in state trooper Billy Costigan (DiCaprio) undercover to infiltrate Costello’s crime organization.

It’s a terrific setup. Neither man knows who the mole is on the other side but either could uncover the other’s secret at any point. It’s a tense, incredibly suspenseful crime movie that’s more drama than action. Still, when the action does pick up it will leave you stunned and shaken. Trust me. There’s one scene in particular that’s stuck with me ever since I saw this in the movie theater nearly 20 years ago.

What Do Critics Say About The Departed?

The Departed has a 91% Rotten Tomatoes score with 286 reviews, which is frankly a little low for such a great crime thriller. Over 250,000 users on Rotten Tomatoes give the film a 94% score. This puts it behind some of Scorsese’s best films like Goodfellas (94%) and Raging Bull (92%). It also puts it behind some of Scorsese’s much more mediocre films, like The Irishman which has an inexplicable 95% though audiences gave it 86%. (I actually really despised The Irishman, which was pretty heartbreaking as a Scorsese fan. When De Niro’s character beats up the grocer, I had to turn it off I was just laughing so hard at how bad it was).

As far as critics go, most are over-the-moon when it comes to The Departed. “One of the best crime dramas ever made,” writes Mark Johnson of Awards Daily, “The Departed is a riveting film capable of being watched repeatedly. The pacing, acting, and writing are all superb, but what did you expect from a Scorsese picture?”

Sean Axmaker of Stream on Demand wrote of the film, “[Scorsese] turns the clever cat-and-mouse story of two rival informants scrambling to save themselves from discovery, into a star-studded mob opera spiked with grimy underworld detail and juiced with adrenaline and suspicion.”

The late, great Roger Ebert gave the film 4 stars, writing “This movie is like an examination of conscience, when you stay up all night trying to figure out a way to tell the priest: I know I done wrong, but, oh, Father, what else was I gonna do?”

The Departed is out now on Netflix. Give it a watch. They don’t make movies like they used to. Here’s the trailer:

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