Martin Scorcese might be too old, but sure he's not too old to direct. In one of the best directed films of the year, The Departed proves that mighty Scorcese is not yet ready to depart from the filmmaking business.

Tough-going, gripping and hard-edged mob-crime-police-whatever-you-call-it drama, The Departed is like a knife. It may look like an ordinary silver blade like any others, but when you mess it with, it cuts and it will shed some blood. Although there are too many films in the genre right now, too many powerful dynamos of films like Scarface, Reservois Dogs, The Godfather trilogy and Pulp Fiction, The Departed is one cut different from any others. One, it's a police drama set in the modern day mixed with fueled mob story. Two, it's based on a successful Hongkong film, Internal Affairs. Three, who the hell messes with Jack Nicholson and Leonardo DiCaprio? I mean, dude, should anyone in Hollywood try to run down Nicholson? Or Hollywood's Golden Boy DiCaprio?

I don't want to set out spoilers here because it might make you call it a day, but I just want to give out some nifty bits of the film. Nicholson plays as a mob boss, who's in control of the neighborhood in Boston (Was it in Boston? I can't remember. Oops, memory failure.) and also a drug lord. He adopts Matt Damon and sets him into the police squad as a career, and I won't continue now because I'm giving away too much. All I can say here now is that performances in this film are top-notch, including Nicholson, DiCaprio, Matt Damon and Mark Whalberg. I know Whalberg is nominated to Best Supporting Actor for Oscars this year, but sidestepping Nicholson out of the favourites? Watch the film and you'll know how crazy it is to disrespect such performance by Nicholson.

I simply adore Martin Scorcese's direction in this film, and you could actually see how much experience there is in his craft. He moves cameras excellently, and angles them in the right nooks and crannies. He expertly dishes in thrills and suspense. He knows how to bring out stellar performances by his actors and supervise editing as well. One of the best shots in the film was in the climax part, where DiCaprio, Damon and Whalberg were chasing in a building, and the elevator scene was one of the most haunting, shocking scenes in recent cinema history. I just love that part where all of them went - shazam! yowzah! not gonna mention anything more. Cheers.

The Departed is worth the watch. It's a good film for those suspense, police-crime drama lovers. Whilst for other people, you might find yourself bored, which means not for every mature brain.

Rating: A-