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Tired of the same old spy movies? Let's give this a try...

Billy Costigan (Leonardo DiCaprio)gets in a bit of trouble every now and then. He recently beat up an MP and is in danger of losing his job in the Massachusetts State Police, especially with his family ties to some of the biggest crooks in the industry. The next thing we know he's heading to the heart of the Irish mob and its leader, Frank Costello (Jack Nicholson). Colin Sullivan (Matt Damon) also works for the state police, but unlike Costigan he excels in just about everything he does and his work is beyond reproach, earning him promotion after promotion within the force. Unfortunately, they don't know that Sullivan was mentored by Costello and could very well be an informant.

The stakes rise as Costello suspects that he may have a rat in his midst and calls on his apprentice to find out who it is so he can be dealt with properly. Luckily for Costigan only two people know his true identity and whereabouts, Oliver Queenan (Martin Sheen) and Detective Sergeant Dignam (Mark Wahlberg). These are two men he can stake his life on...or at least, they better be. To make matters worse, Sullivan is placed in charge of the investigation to find the rat within the police force, a job for which he insists he must have all the records pertaining to the active undercover agents.

That's pretty much the basis for the story, a bunch of Irish cops and mobsters trying to trip each other up. A simple story? I think not. Thanks to the numerous plot twists and excellent acting, this story bounces back and forth and every which way, leaving the viewer wondering what the heck is happening and what's going to happen next.

Like everyone else who owned a television that had some channels of any sort I saw the previews for The Departed. They were rather hard to miss as they were played at least a couple times an hour on any given channel save the movie ones that only have previews in between features. When it came out I saw the film on the "new arrival" rack at the local Wal-Mart and finally read the back to see what it was actually about (it's difficult to tell from the preview). It sounded good, but like something my then-significant other probably wouldn't enjoy so I had to pass.

Finally, almost a year after the film came out I saw it playing on one of my movie channels. Yay! This is the one way to get around the "what hubby wants" choice of movies and I jumped on it. My conclusion is that it is definitely my type of movie...and

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