The Departed - Entre Inimigos

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.

Not only is The Departed not among the best of Scorsese's films; it's not even the best version of this film.

This crime thriller is a profane, blood-drenched joy to watch.

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

Scorsese takes William Monahan's brilliant adaptation and completely makes it his own, resulting in not only one of the best movies of the year but also one of the best of his amazing career.

The Departed's lucky-charmed score is one of many subliminal devices in the film: No one better lay a hand on Scorsese's Oscar.

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

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

Freed from iconic figures and weighty themes, Martin Scorsese, in The Departed, gets to riff and rock. And the audience gets a huge, bloody, profane entertainment in the bargain.

A great, resonant, psychologically complex popcorn movie made by a cast and crew of filmmakers at the top of their game. Welcome back, Marty.

That Scorsese can hit this kind of material out of the park isn't surprising, and much of The Departed gleams with a certain well-honed perfection.

After a pair of flawed Oscar-hunting epics, Martin Scorsese has returned to the gritty, violent mob drama that has always been his strong suit, and the result -- The Departed -- is his best film since 1990's Goodfellas.

The storytelling here is a model of smooth precision.

This merrily vicious and violent Martin Scorsese film about cops and gangsters in Boston will never haunt your sleep, as Taxi Driver and Raging Bull do, but it will keep you excited and amused for well over two hours.

As The Departed wears on, it becomes more exciting, more grimly funny and more nihilistic -- and that nihilism has a lasting impact.

Scorsese has put together a fantastic ensemble of actors: Some of the movie's best performances are the ones tucked into the corners, like Alec Baldwin's beefy, arrogant state police honcho.

Brilliantly acted, enthrallingly told, this vast, operatic saga centers on two men caught between the fear of having their true selves revealed and the fear of hiding themselves so completely they can never come back.

Watching this new film by Scorsese is tantamount to falling in love again with the brash, cinematic bad boy from New York City.

The Departed remains a rousing film.

The Departed is Scorsese's most entertaining picture in years, dense, violent (more of his screen sadism played for laughs), and satisfying.