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‘The Departed’: Scorsese scores

The notion that acclaimed director Martin Scorsese someday would (or even could) top the outrageous climax to his 1976 film “Taxi Driver” — you know, when DeNiro turns a pimp’s tenement headquarters into an abattoir — seemed ridiculous.

Until now.

The final 20 minutes of Scorsese’s latest instaclassic, “The Departed,” sets a new standard for crime-drama shock and awe with hyperviolent, blood-spattered confrontations that explode in your face to literally cover the walls (without ever feeling gratuitous).

And that’s after the first two hours have pinned you back in your seat and pummeled you senseless.

Of course, as great as Scorsese is, no director works in a vacuum. Screenwriter William Monahan, who based his script loosely on the 2002 Hong Kong cult film “Infernal Affairs,” masterfully spins a story that ratchets up the life-and-death stakes with every scene. And it’s all served up by a powerhouse cast.

The lineup starts with Leonardo DiCaprio as Billy Costigan, a South Boston native looking to shed the semilegendary criminal legacy of his late father and uncle by becoming a city beat cop.

But the police bosses have other ideas. Capt. Queenan (Martin Sheen) and his Staff Sgt. Dignam (Mark Wahlberg), think Costigan is the perfect candidate to play mole and infiltrate an Irish crime syndicate run by Frank Costello (Jack Nicholson), the elusive longtime target of city, state and federal lawdogs.

Meanwhile, Costello has set up young Colin Sullivan (Matt Damon) to join the police as his mole — and Sullivan has been assigned to the very unit devoted to taking down Costello.

Sullivan’s identity is known only to Costello, and Costigan’s is known only to Queenan and Dignam. The fun begins when both sides realize they have a rat problem, and Costigan and Sullivan are snared in an ever-tightening web of deceit where one false step means a one-way trip to the local marsh.

The tension rises to pulse-pounding levels as the two race to see who can smoke out the other first, with a dash of spice added courtesy of a sexy police shrink (Vera Farmiga) who gets involved with both of them.

In one scene, Sullivan comes into possession of a cell phone that Queenan (who by that point has met a bad end) used only to talk with Costigan. Sullivan hits the call-back button; Costigan, who saw Queenan die, picks up.

Each knows that the person on the end of the line is the other rat, but neither speaks, hoping the other will give something away, as the camera cuts back and forth between them in a vintage Scorsese moment.

And just when you think things can’t possibly get any more tangled, they do, with a startling revelation about Costello that shakes up both sides in a big way.

The three leads are awesome. DiCaprio has added much-needed heft to both his frame and his swagger (and finally seems able to grow chin hair without embarrassing himself), while the underrated Damon flashes the subtle yet powerful charisma that has become his hallmark.

Lording over it all is Nicholson, as mesmerizing as ever as a stone-cold psycho whose favorite things are money, sex and murder — in no particular order.

In one scene, Costello emerges from the back room of his saloon headquarters drenched in blood to his elbows and calmly addresses his troops. No explanation is offered for what he was up to in the back room; really, is one needed?

Yet Costello also is not without a sense of humor. When he asks after the health of one hood’s mother and is told she’s “on the way out,” Costello grins and says, “We all are — act accordingly.” It’s a pretty fair summation of his life philosophy.

Scorsese has been nominated for a best-director Oscar four times and has yet to win — a mind-boggling travesty. “The Departed” will earn him his fifth nod — you heard it here — and if there’s an ounce of justice in the movie biz, this must-see flick will be the one that puts him over the top.

4 stars. Rated R for language, violence, sex and weird Bahston accents. Got a rant or rave about the movies? E-mail cvinch@atpco.com.