I’ve been itchin’ to see Donnie Brasco ever since I saw the preview, which seems like eons ago. Anything starring the super-cool Al Pacino and the dark ‘n’ fine Johnny Depp has got to be good. Of course, Al and Johnny do not disappoint.

Depp plays Joseph Pistone, an undercover FBI agent with the dubious duty of cracking a mafia ring in New York City.

He’s going by the name of Donnie Brasco (hence the title of the film). To break into the tight circle, he befriends Lefty (Pacino), who takes Brasco under his wing.

This has all the makings of another Good Fellas,   la Casino, with a lot of bone-crunching, cigarette smoking and some naked women thrown in just for fun.

But thankfully, there’s no Robert DeNiro, and Joe Pesci is nowhere to be found. Pacino and Depp, after all, can handle their roles just fine.

Michael Madsen as Sonny Black, one of the bosses, adds to the freshness of the film. (I do have to wonder, though, if Madsen is ever going to break out of this quiet-guy-who-could-crack-at-any-moment kick he’s been on. He plays the same dude in every movie.)

Brasco must learn the intricacies and unwritten rules of the mafia family — strange stuff about initiation, getting “made,” getting “upped” and all sorts of other bizarre jargon that just reeks of male bonding.

In between all of the money-making and hair-greasing, Brasco has to think back to his former life when he is Pistone, a normal Joe with a wife and three daughters.

He gets so deeply entrenched in his new mafia “family” that during a fight, his wife Maggie accuses him of “being just like them.”

“Forget being like them,” he tells her. “I am them.”

Chilling stuff, and the deeper Brasco gets into his new circle of friends, the more Pistone starts drowning. And as if he didn’t have enough to worry about, he starts to feel real filial affection toward Lefty.

Yeah, yeah, I know: Who doesn’t love Al Pacino? But when Brasco’s loyalty threatens to get him killed, he’s got to get his priorities straight.

And that’s really what Donnie Brasco is all about. What are your priorities? What are the priorities of our government?

What is the nature of friendship? Can you love someone but hate what they do? Or even hate what they are? Does family come first? Who is family?

Yeah, I know. It’s deep stuff. Maybe even deeper since the movie is based on a true story (Yipes).

But who isn’t up for the occasional brain-pumper every now and then? I warn you, though: There are some majorly tense moments when I might’ve soiled myself had I not regained control at the last moment.

And there’s more than a bit of gore. I’m not talking Good Fellas-type violence, because in general the film is not knock-down, drag-’em-out brutal, but when some of the guys start breaking out the saws after a kill, my dinner was ready to make a second appearance.

Despite that bit of nastiness, Donnie Brasco is totally worth the heart-pounding and the adrenaline rush you’ll get when you see it. And it won’t all be from Depp’s supreme tastiness.