I would count this as maybe 70% masterpiece – Scorsese in fine flourishing form, cranking up the Rolling Stones on the soundtrack as he tackles gangsters again. There’s extra energy this time in that the action takes place in Boston, not New York/Las Vegas, and the characters as Irish, not Italian. Everyone talks like a Kennedy (or I should say “tawks”), and it gives it all freshness – I can’t recall a crime piece set in Boston, it seems a violent crime riddled place. (I picked up on the class stuff from my short time in Boston – outside the beautiful marble halls and manicured lawns of Harvard there were scores, literally scores, of homeless beggars on street corners – and what’s more articulate homeless beggars).
The Boston setting seems to have acted as a tonic for two locals, Matt Damon and Mark Wahlberg, both better than in anything else I have seen them. Damon is an actor of limited resource, but does well in parts which require him to play someone who tries really, really hard (eg Ripley, Jason Bourne) – so he suits playing a cop who is in the pocket of Jack Nicholson; getting to act in a Boston accent may explain why he is so relaxed and energetic.
Wahlberg is sensational as the incredibly rude and insensitive undercover cop – indeed, such a strong character that his absence is keenly felt in the last 20 minutes or so of the film (I didn’t believe he would be absent for so long – he might make an ideal sequel, though).
Martin Sheen adds some cuddly, kindly President Bartlett-type gravitas as a kindly cop; Alec Baldwin is brilliant as a bad-joke-cracking cop. Also very good is the girl, very sexy and engaging (though the fact she is linked to both Damon and di Caprio is a little bit of a stretch). Leo di Caprio at first is a bit irritating to be honest – he doesn’t look at all like a cop – but as his character goes progressively bonkers he gets better.
Jack Nicholson strides through the film like, well, Jack Nicholson – he may have been a bit more effective on a tighter leash, I didn’t quite buy him as a crime lord for some reason (he just seemed to be Jack Nicholson), but for all that he remains a charismatic performer, and the film is less strong without him in it.
The script has plenty of twists and turns and terrific dialogue; it also has some genuine surprises, although there were some deserved titters from the audience towards the end. It does go on for a bit – some scenes seem to be put in just for scenes – and there is another 20 minutes after the big climax. I never saw Internal Affairs but it seems like it comes from Hong Kong cinema, with that high body count, operatic feel and doses of sappiness.
The most vivid thing I took away from the film: the Howard Shore music, particularly the thumping sound of beats in the background during dialogue scenes.
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