The Departed (2006)

All Critics (230) | Top Critics (50) | Fresh (223) | Rotten (17) | DVD (34)

[A] very entertaining, densely layered, just-short-of-fabulous melodrama.

February 24, 2013 Full Review

Richard Corliss

TIME Magazine

Top Critic

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.

July 6, 2007 Full Review | Comments (5)

Roger Ebert

Chicago Sun-Times

Top Critic

You'll have to go back to GoodFellas to find a Marty movie this fun, this enamored of language, of ethnic slurs, of "Gimme Shelter," of explosive violence. Scorsese's return to form is the year's most dynamic film. Really, how could it not be?

February 3, 2007 Full Review

Joshua Rothkopf

Time Out New York

Top Critic

The Departed has enough tension to keep you engrossed, and enough color for ten crime pictures. Scorsese obviously adores his expensive, expansive ensemble.

January 6, 2007 Full Review

David Edelstein

New York Magazine

Top Critic

Is Scorsese desperate? This screenplay has the scent of it, as if he is scraping for material to feed his basic filmic interests.

October 26, 2006 Full Review | Comments (30)

Stanley Kauffmann

The New Republic

Top Critic

[A] glorious mess of a movie.

October 14, 2006 Full Review

Peter Howell

Toronto Star

Top Critic

This is Scorsese's Serpico, his French Connection, his Heat, and he brings the same eye for anthropological detail to the boys in blue as he does to his beloved wiseguys.

February 24, 2013 Full Review

Total Film

An expertly-crafted genre thriller which stands a chance at becoming one of his biggest box office hits yet.

February 24, 2013 Full Review

Mike Goodridge

Screen International

Urban film making at its best, The Departed is a brutally violent, beautifully crafted, and incredibly well acted piece of film making that will leave you reeling.

July 6, 2010 Full Review

Matthew Pejkovic

Matt's Movie Reviews

The film is superbly shot, and the rapid-fire editing and shaky camera fit the constant flux that the main characters find themselves in time and again.

September 19, 2009 Full Review | Comments (2)

Gabe Leibowitz

Film and Felt

You must understand farce before you can understand tragedy, and Scorsese understands both

August 28, 2009 Full Review

Fernando F. Croce

CinePassion

Much splat, little art

July 23, 2009 Full Review | Comments (33)

S. James Wegg

JWR

Scorsese isn't about plots; he's about people, places, and times, and until he departs from that, this film is a return to genius.

April 23, 2009 Full Review

Peter Keough

Boston Phoenix

One of the year's very best and most exciting films.

November 20, 2008 Full Review

Brian Marder

Hollywood.com

Great acting aside, this film's greatest accomplishment comes from its director, whose style is remarkable and whose vision is always innovative.

October 18, 2008 Full Review

Brian Gibson

Film School Rejects

Violent, well-done thriller. Not for kids.

July 10, 2008 Full Review

Cynthia Fuchs

Common Sense Media

Scorsese has made an incredible cover version of the original, imbued with every ounce of his artistic personality transforming it into something both familiar and new.

April 18, 2008 Full Review

Brian Holcomb

Beyond Hollywood

The Departed heralds Martin Scorsese's return to the top of his game and simultaneously secures for the film a place in the pantheon of the very best of American crime cinema. Welcome back to Scorsese's mean streets.

February 28, 2008 Full Review

Brandon Fibbs

BrandonFibbs.com

The story rattles along at such a lick there's little time to ponder the plot holes -- no mean feat in a film of this length and with so many fine actors competing for our attention.

February 20, 2008 Full Review

Neil Smith

Film4

... a fantastically entertaining crime thriller, crackling with energy from beginning to end. ... But Nicholson's outrageous over-acting becomes a distraction.

September 21, 2007 | Comments (2)

Jeffrey Overstreet

Looking Closer

Scorsese revisits old territory in The Departed, and he doesn't do anything he hasn't done brilliantly several times before.

July 30, 2007 Full Review | Comments (19)

Rob Gonsalves

eFilmCritic.com

It really speaks across the whole wiseguy genre.

July 28, 2007

James Plath

Reel.com

• 1. Captain Queenan: Do you want to be a cop or only look like a cop?
  – Submitted by Jean R (3 days ago)
• 1. Mr. French: I'm the guy who tells you there are guys you can hit, and there are guys you can't. Now that's not quite a guy you can't hit, but it's almost a guy you can't hit, so I'm fucking ruling on it right now that you don't hit him, understand?
  – Submitted by Kia M (43 days ago)
• 1. Frank Costello: *Sniff* *Sniff*...I smell a rat.
  – Submitted by Alex A (3 months ago)
• 1. Colin Sullivan: [Colin is stepping out the elevator in his apartment building. He sees a dog and reaches out] Hey, pup.
  2. Colin Sullivan: [the owner and the dog pull away from him. Colin goes to his door and sticks the keys in. He pauses, leaning against the door, and a sniffle is faintly heard. He then goes inside his apartment, only to find Sergeant Dignam with a pistol waiting for him]
  3. Colin Sullivan: [Colin is surprised, but then realizes that he's got nowhere to run] Okay. [Sergeant Dignam then shoots Colin in the head and walks out the door]
  – Submitted by Moe J (3 months ago)
• 1. Captain Queenan: You're a worker. You rise fast.
  2. Sergeant Dignam: Like a 12-year-old's dick.
  – Submitted by Lucas M (6 months ago)
• 1. Captain Ellerby: Go fuck yourself.
  2. Sergeant Dignam: I'm tired from fucking your wife.
  3. Captain Ellerby: How is your mother?
  4. Sergeant Dignam: Good, she's tired from fucking my father.
  – Submitted by Lucas M (6 months ago)

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