Martin Scorsese: Ranking His Movies From Worst To Best

7. The Departed

Given the exceptionally high standard of many of Martin Scorsese's movies over the decades it's baffling how he hasn't been awarded more Academy Awards for Best Director. Indeed, this prestigious accolade has only been granted to him for a single film, The Departed. It's not hard to think of other Scorsese movies more deserving of an Oscar, but nevertheless The Departed is a fine piece of genre cinema with strong performances from its central cast. Matt Damon and Leonardo DiCaprio star as a mob mole in the police force and an undercover agent in the mob respectively, with Jack Nicholson putting in a suitably menacing turn as the mob boss Francis Costello. Double crosses, deception and murder play out with a hint of the Shakespearian, and while many have argued that Infernal Affairs - the Hong Kong hit on which The Departed is inspired - is superior, it's perhaps more a case of apples and oranges - Scorsese brings enough differences to his Boston-set crime story to set it apart from its predecessor.