I had immense empathy for the DiCaprio character, a cop who is bullied into infiltrating the mob. Although I am a secret Titanic fan (Kate, oh, Kate), this is the first time I thought the guy could really act since Gilbert Grape. Finally, he is a young man, and he has real intensity here.

Matt Damon is fabulous. Interestingly, he is a dimensional character, but I had no sympathy for him -- none. He is the flip side of DiCaprio's character -- a mob guy infiltrating the cops. And oh is he smart and smug, and with just a small twist in fate would have been a lawyer instead.

(re-posted because of spam on this strand.)

The two characters are connected via mobster Costello, played by Jack Nicholson. He wears lots of animal prints, has crazy hair, and generally hams it up.

Marky Mark is there too, stealing the show. And a gentle Martin Sheen. And a livewire Alec Baldwin. It is apparent everyone is loving every second. The lynch pin is a female shrink. I liked her.

Violent, almost epic, and substantive enough to be real satisfying cinema. I may go again.