I could have gone my entire life without seeing Jack Nicholson’s boner, but if that’s the price I had to pay to see The Departed, it was worth it. Yeah I know, about three years late to the party, right? The thing came out in 2006. Well, I put off seeing this movie for a really long time because my attention span sucks, and the thing is 2 1/2 hours. Plus, I was still working for Hollywood Video and on the brink of quitting the job, and I didn’t want to watch another freaking movie for all the money in the world at the time. Watching movies was the last thing I wanted to do. So I finally got around to watching it now, three years later.

Anyway, the movie itself. I’d been nervous about the length and my short attention span conflicting, and I really didn’t need to worry about that at all. The movie was 2 1/2 hours long, which is pretty freaking long by current standards, but I was never bored. It never lost my attention. I assume most people know what it’s about, but if not: It’s a cop/mob movie. Martin Scorsese suspense flick with tons of betrayal, deceit, and… people getting bullets through the skull. It was incredible the whole way through, and the cast really couldn’t have been any better.

I’m not going to do a rundown of the whole cast, but I wanted to touch on one person: Leo. Leonardo DiCaprio is one of those names that a lot of people roll their eyes at ever since Titanic, but I’ve come to realize it’s pretty unfair. The guy is great, and I think he’s at his best in movies where his character is a little more dark. See: Blood Diamond, Gangs of New York. This movie really played that up, and it was fantastic. His character reminded me a lot of Donnie Brasco, which is another good movie in the genre. The characters match up with the whole “losing yourself” aspect of what he had to do. You’re around terrible people doing terrible things so long that you start doing it yourself, whether you think it’s right or not. It just becomes a part of you, it’s something you need to do to get by regardless of your morality. It’s always a fascinating transformation to watch.

The ending was a bit depressing, but satisfyingly so, if that makes any sense. It wasn’t all sunshine and rainbows, but it didn’t leave you feeling empty either. Everything was simply… done.

If you haven’t seen this movie yet, please go do it. If you have seen it and think I’m an idiot for not watching it sooner, feel free to mock me ruthlessly in the comments section.