Jack Nicholson, playing a mob kingpin, makes poetry out of his eloquently profane dialogue - Miami Herald
Returning to the dark side after a string of comedies, Nicholson gets less screen time than his younger co-stars, but his portrayal of the corrupt kingpin Frank Costello towers over the movie. Nicholson's performance is graduated and specific: He doesn't start going all Jack on us until the film's second half, when Costello begins to lose his mind. But instead of derailing the picture, Nicholson's excesses feed the portrait of a lifelong criminal who has gorged on more blood and power than any man could need. – Miami Herald
Obscene and dangerously insane, Costello is the driving
force powering The Departed, Martin Scorsese’s return to his urban roots after
a decade of period pieces. Then, he is played by Jack Nicholson. This marks the
first teaming of America’s premier cinematic dynamos.
Yet, for all the youthful talent (and we also get Mark
Wahlberg to bolster the film’s young-leaning credentials), The Departed belongs
to Nicholson and Frank Costello, a man of unpredictable nature who doesn’t
simply like violence, he is so steeped in it that it’s as natural as breathing.
It’s hard to say which of his words came from Monahan’s script and which were added
by the actor, who, in familiar fashion, gives the character as much leery charm
as genuine danger, using fear (be it physical, verbal or sexual) as a tool to
get precisely what he wants. In the course of a single phone conversation with
Sullivan, he turns Damon’s character from alpha male to subservient puppy in a
matter of moments. Then, he is Jack Nicholson. And when ‘Jack’ threatens to go
over the top — and sometimes the actor’s too much for even himself to handle —
Scorsese steps in to rap the back of his hand and keep the narrative firmly
rooted in reality. - Empire Magazine
Costello is the vilest of human occurrences, a truly
despicable creature whose sole purpose in the world is to rail against the
status quo and push his own boundaries as far as he can to get the maximum
stretch out of life. As the character admits later on, “I haven’t needed the
money since I took Archie’s milk money in the third grade. I haven’t needed
p***y either, but I like it.”
Indeed, Costello is one of the true villains of the modern
cinema, as morally filthy as he is fascinating. And Nicholson wallows in the
role like he was born to wear it, savoring every feral gaze and relishing every
blood-splattered grin. It might be his best work since “The Shining” 26 years
ago, and a performance Academy voters are likely to eat right up like Ben
Kingsely’s Don Logan in 2001’s “Sexy Beast.” - In contention.com
The heightened style may also be a way of making room for Nicholson's performance, which is theatrical in a very entertaining way. At times he's right on the money, conveying as convincingly as anyone could the attitudes of a tough old bastard who's had things his own way all his life, while at other moments he flies off into an uncharted orbit for which the director tries to make room. - Variety
It's driven by great performances, which Marty gets from every member of his cast. DiCaprio is desperate and tortured as Costigan, and Damon shines as the stiff and sometimes pompous turncoat Colin. Nicholson does his usual, which means he steals every scene he's in. He's charming even when he's blowing a guy's brain out of his ear. Jack does seem to have a little trouble pulling off an Irish accent, but he's otherwise so arresting that his inability to play Irish is completely forgivable. - Cinemablend
Jack Nicholson taps into his great big bag of inspiration to create an unforgettable movie gangster that is at once colorful, pragmatic and energetic.- Maui Times
Nicholson plays aging gangster king-pin Frank Costello, the
lion that eats ruthlessness for breakfast. Sensing an undercover spy in his
midst, Costello tells his undercover protégé Colin Sullivan (Damon),”You know,
in the past, when something like this happens, I’d just kill everybody. Kill
‘em all, you know?”
When Nicholson says it, we believe it.
Ray Winstone plays second-in-command to Nicholson’s Costello
and the two in combination are perfect; nary a slip from either one. - Monsters
& Critics
Nicholson's gaudy, racist, foulmouthed mobster, first shown only in satanic shadows, is a flamboyantly depraved villain, and Jack plays him with Jacobean gusto. - Newsweek
Best of all is a snarling, sinister and brutally benevolent Jack Nicholson as the mob godfather given to moments of bloody rage. - Sunday Mirror
The nature of these roles insure that the actors have very little screen time together, which is fine, because as much as the story is about the morality of double agents, it always comes back to Jack Nicholson's outrageous performance as Frank Costello, who steals the movie much like Daniel Day Lewis dominated "Gangs of New York." Costello is on par with Nicholson's most memorable characters, even one-upping Eric Tsang's jovial gangster from the original trilogy, and the scenes between Nicholson and DiCaprio are as riveting as the best scenes in Scorsese's past work. - Comingsoon.net
Jack? Well…Jack, I believe is on his way to another nomination. Frank Costello is one of the most malevolent, immoral, sinful men of recent film history. Jack is the man and while he deserves the acclaim that he hopefully will receive for the role, he is in no way walking to the podium to accept a fourth Oscar. Even though he does many wicked things in the film, you start to admire the spirit and reputation of Frank Costello. He is the best put together player, head to toe, from his monologues about his past to his devilish humor; he chews scenery so well that he bleeds out the screen. There is no real reason to reiterate how great Jack is but it is great to see those sunglasses at the Kodak Theater from time to time. - Cinema Source
But mostly the film belongs to Nicholson, as they all do whenever he's involved. The part is tailor-made for him - all bluster and swagger, with bottomless menace beneath the suave smile, and it's a hoot to watch him unravel as the film evolves. - AP
In Jack Nicholson's opening monologue as longtime crime boss
Frank Costello, he spews a nasty racial slur as casually as you'd say
"hello." You're not going to like this man. He doesn't want you to
like him. Even before he emerges from the shadows of the narrative and reveals
his hardened face, Nicholson is serving notice that he's going to keep the
familiar tricks -- the lovable bad boy grins and the arched eyebrows -- in the
drawer in favor of serving up an authentic, searing performance. It's some of
the best work he's ever done.
It's a giant and sometimes funny performance, but Nicholson
isn't clowning around or vying for our affections a la his villainous work in
"Batman" or "The Witches of Eastwick." He's a man and he's
a monster, albeit a very entertaining one. - Roeper - Chicago Sun-Times
'He totally chews up the scenery and dominates whenever he appears' - Toxic Universe
the gang of mobsters led by Frank Costello (a ripely dissolute and menacing Nicholson) - Premiere Magazine
Slouching in mismatched purples and prints, leering with those ambidextrous eyebrows and sputtering all sorts of wildly perverted, racist invectives on the rare occasions he’s actually making sense, Nicholson’s Costello isn’t your standard scary mobster—he’s completely out of his gourd. Waving around a gigantic black dildo and eating bugs, he gives the kind of wild, go-for-broke performance that will spawn as many passionate detractors as it will devoted fans. Brando would be envious. - Philadelphia Weekly
Among the tremendous performances are, of course, Nicholson, who ranges from the most deliciously precise of line readings to the most manic of threats; - New City Chicago.com
Nicholson delivers classic Nicholson with a devilishly pure evil villain in Costello. He takes advantage of everyone and leaves many victims in his wake, but makes you love him despite it all.Boston may deserve better, but Jack makes it all better. - Suffolk Journal
in his latest, larger-than-life supporting turn, Nicholson merrily steals every scene, blessed with all of screenwriter Monahan's best lines and an unforgettable `revelation' in an adult cinema. - Manchester Evening News
In a performance that ranges between over-the-top and over-the-moon, Nicholson seems to be channeling his horny little devil character from The Witches of Eastwick — only it’s carnage, not eros, that gets Frank Costello hard. And he’s enormous fun to watch. - LA Weekly
From the opening moments where Nicholson simply chews the scenery, replete with trademark grin and dead-on dialogues, you are pulled in for the ride. Nicholson’s Costello, a remorseless, powerful killer, bemuses over the way a corpse falls to the ground in a strange way on top of another corpse – both of which he killed. Nicholson adds another memorable bad guy performance to his resume, still as compelling as ever in his golden years. - Reelz Channel
Nicholson, on the other hand, is a complete joy. Once again playing a distinct character while somehow remaining unmistakably Jack, he is the main source of the film’s wit - Pasadena Weekly
Costello is losing his grip -- taking more chances than he needs to -- and in this degradation of the instincts that have kept him alive and on top for decades, Nicholson finds room for his customary theatrics. ``I got this rat,'' Costello says, and Nicholson makes a face like a rodent. It seems like something a slightly deranged septuagenarian mob boss might do, and Nicholson never goes completely berserk, possibly out of respect for Scorsese. Like his director, Nicholson is working at the peak of his powers here. - Mercury News
Nicholson's firecracker performance provides the film with much of its explosive energy and wit (it's one of the few roles he's had recently in which the character is actually big enough to incorporate his outsized personality). He makes Frank a decadent charismatic monster: a sick psycho who can find the humour in a cold-blooded execution one minute and quote James Joyce the next ("I'm what they call a paradox," he jokes). Nicholson also makes Frank a frighteningly believable father figure to both Damon's character and DiCaprio's, inspiring both awe and fear, often within the space of a few moments. It's a meaty part and Nicholson has a blast sinking his teeth into it. - Scotsman
Of course, anything with Jack Nicholson in it these days is
an automatic “must see,” and that almost goes as far as all Laker home games.
He’s at his best in “The Departed,” playing a perfect role for him, a tough,
unforgiving Mafia boss in Boston who must ferret out a police infiltrator
operating in his inner circle.
Nicholson’s role in this one matches his best tough guy
performances, such as the colonel in “A Few Good Men.” It is a film that could
hearken back to his early “Chinatown” tour de force except that, in this case,
mystery or surprise endings play no part. - Falls Church Reporter
A great, Boston-set crime drama and a ”GoodFellas”-like return to form for Martin Scorsese, ”The Departed” - the title refers to the ”dearly departed ”- is a wonderful example of genre filmmaking, another triumph for Jack Nicholson and an adeptly rooted transplant of a 2002 Hong Kong action flick - Boston Herald
There are few more exhilarating sights in cinema than Jack Nicholson at his deeply unpleasant best. This time he is Frank Costello, the psychotic boss of an Irish mob in Boston, and the cornerstone of Martin Scorsese’s vertiginous thriller The Departed. - The Times
Nicholson is menacingly beautiful, doing whatever it takes to make sure he stays one step ahead ohe cops. – MSNBC
Jack Nicholson plays Irish gang leader Frank Costello. One word…WOW! I really dig seeing Nicholson not being Nicholson, he totally owned this character with his ruthlessness and charismatic demeanor. – Joblo.com
But Nicholson is the maypole around whom they all dance. He gives a volatile "Scarface" of a performance, driven by internal combustion, without raising his voice or breaking a sweat, and is the corrosive constant – OnWisconsin
Nicholson oozes a villainous charm, but
there's an aged seediness in Costello's grin that telegraphs his growing
paranoia.
If Nicholson never stars in another film,
this will be one of the highlights of the clip reel. In the end, the legendary
actor, not the legendary director, is the reason "The Departed" stays
with you. – St Louis Today
Everyone gets good lines in Monahan's
screenplay, but the lion's share, understandably, goes to Nicholson himself,
each witticism a diamond in the most dangerous rough imaginable. Having
menacingly asked after the ailing mother of one of his courtiers, and been told
that she is "on the way out", Nicholson grins as if receiving good
news. "We all are!" he declaims. "Act accordingly!"
And he certainly does, growling and
snarling like an aggregate of the previous dark destroyers in his career, and
incidentally finishing the movie with a half-moon gout of blood on his lower
lip, as if reprising his Joker from the Batman movies. What a barnstormer this
is from Nicholson, the kind of performance that no one else could possibly do,
but which he could probably do in his sleep: and in his more heavy-lidded
moments gives the impression of actually doing - without it ever being less
than fantastic value for money. At one stage, musing angrily on the presence of
a suspected rat in his ranks, Nicholson actually does an impression of a rat:
two big front teeth suddenly pop out over his lower lip and that great snub
nose twitches malevolently. I can't see Pacino or De Niro getting away with it.
Whistler once said his exorbitant fees were not for the hours' work at the
easel, but for the experience of a lifetime, and that is what we are getting
with Nicholson: a great screen actor whose charisma has, through the decades,
rolled over like a recurring lottery jackpot. Will the 69-year-old Nicholson
get a part like this, with a director like this, ever again? – The Guardian
On the plus side, Nicholson is on good-to-great form as the paternal brute, and lends an inimitable reli
Nicholson, as a wily old crime boss, delivers a bravura performance that often tips into outright comedy – The Washington Post
Not surprisingly, however, the third-billed Nicholson wipes the floor with his acting competition. Playing a satanic character named after a famous real-life gangster (and modeled after a more recent Boston crook profiled on "60 Minutes"), the old pro steals every scene he's in and dominates this movie like a colossus. – Seattle PI
The police department is hellbent on taking down crime boss Frank Costello, played with just the right blend of menace, sleaze and dissipation by Jack Nicholson. – USA Today
The performances are phenomenal. At the height of his powers, Jack Nicholson plays Frank Costello shrewd and lethally funny but essentially straight, without self-parody; somehow this singular star has found his way back to the commanding simplicity of his work in "Chinatown." – Wall St Journal
Nicholson delivers an inspired performance with his portrayal of power-crazed crook Costello. – The Sun
Jack Nicholson is in top form, providing a diabolical villain who can deliver a monologue with unparalleled verve' – reelviews.net
Jack Nicholson reaches undreamed-of heights of decadent devilment as Irish mob Kingpin frank Costello – Rolling Stone
And Nicholson, hitching his brow with perfect timing, has taken the archetype of a ruthless, uncouth mobster and made something new of it, a man who can be hilariously funny and wholly menacing at the same time. – NY Daily
Wahlberg almost steals the film as a pit bull of a Statie -- every time he shows up you start grinning -- and Nicholson does steal everything that's not nailed down. Frank Costello could be Jack Torrance from ``The Shining" given a new lease on life and scraped clean of all human scruple. He's a joyfully vulgar psycho, a creature of pure id. You don't try to understand this guy -- as someone says, quoting Sigmund Freud, the Irish ``are the only people impervious to psychoanalysis" -- you just run like hell. – Boston.com
Nicholson, in a role that feels a cross of his own devil from "The Witches of Eastwick" and Daniel Day-Lewis' Bill the Butcher from "Gangs of New York," is lurid, ghastly, ruthless and hilarious; he could charm the cream away from a cat and skin the little critter at the same time. – Oregon Live