Everyone was telling me that I had to see this one. I don’t remember why I didn’t see it in theatres but I never did. Scorcese, Nicholson, mobsters… Oh HELL yeah!
I have come to terms with the fact that, even though I don’t like the “pretty-boy” actors, they are in some great movies. This movie had two strikes against it to begin with. Matt Damon and Leonardo DeCaprio. I don’t like either of them. But, I have seen some good movies with them in it and I have even seen them put in good performances. I just can’t get past them. I include Brad Pitt and Keanu Reeves in this list. Even though they are in great movies and they can occasionally impress me, all I see is the tabloid covers and hype, and I just can’t watch them.
So, trying to put that aside here, it happened in this one too. DeCaprio was really good, made me believe the character but every once in a while I’d just look up and go, “Oh fuck I’m watching Leonardo DeCrapio!” So he wasn’t able to really pull me in, even though I think his performance was better than Damon’s. Much better.
Two cadets go off into the Massachusetts State Police. One of the kids (Damon) was befriended by the local mob boss when he was a child. He quickly climbs the ladder and becomes the mob’s inside man. The other kid (DeCaprio) grew up with a rough life and after his new boss grills him and he never cracks, he is given an undercover job. For a cover story, he is kicked off the force, arrested for some petty crime and does 6 months in jail. He joins up with the mob and quickly becomes one of the boss’s most trusted men. The movie is all about how these two interact with the boss (Nicholson). One is a big time cop, quietly feeding his mob friend information to keep him out of trouble. The other is a big time gangster, quietly feeding the cops information to bring him down. But only one of the characters is conflicted. Damon is reveling in his position as top cop and has no issues with his ties to the mob. DeCaprio is agonizing with the stress of being the mob mole and wants the cops to bring down Nicholson so that he can return to being a cop again. It turns out that the reason Nicholson was never arrested was because he was an FBI informant.
In the end, Damon is given full authority to find out who is the leak in the force. As he tries to figure out how to make progress without ratting himself out, Nicholson is convinced he has a mole in his organization too. He becomes increasingly paranoid and hard to deal with. After the police chief is killed and his assistant is put on leave for fighting with Damon, it all comes to a head. In a big action arrest scene, most of the mob dies off. Nicholson is killed and Damon takes the credit. When DeCaprio comes in to report, he catches on that Damon is the crooked cop. He runs out and Damon counters with deleting every file that says he is actually a cop. DeCaprio compiles all of his evidence and gives a copy to Damon’s girlfriend (with whom he is also acquainted) and calls Damon to a meeting where he is immediately arrested. When they get downstairs, DeCaprio is killed by another cop that has mob ties. He destroys the evidence and gives DeCaprio a cop funeral. Just when he thinks he got away with it all, he arrives home to find the chief’s assistant who kills him and walks out. And just incase you didn’t catch the whole “rat” theme, the closing shot is a rat that crawls out on the balcony railing.
Phew! That was a lot to write. It really was a good flick. I would rank this one up there among “Goodfellas” and “Casino”. Below them both but still, up there. The only thing that killed me was the song. They kept playing a version of Dropkick Murphy’s “Shipping Up To Boston” that I can not find anywhere. I have the album it was originally on and it is not the same as the one in the movie. The movie soundtrack has a third version on it but I STILL can’t find the one from the movie.
Leave a Reply