The Departed: Movie Review, Analysis, and Mistakes

Martin Scorsese's Outstanding Crime Drama

By Solomon Rothman, published Oct 19, 2006
Published Content: 38  Total Views: 155,732  Favorited By: 3 CPs
Rating: 3.4 of 5


Last night I saw "The Departed", directed by Martin Scorsese (known for directing a bunch of famous movies throughout the last 25 years, including "taxi driver" and "Gangs of New York")

It was absolutely outstanding and if you check out the movie review site Rotten Tomatoes it scored a rating of 92% positive. This is an almost unheard of high rating for a new film. Usually for a film to rate this high, it has to be in retrospection, meaning the reviews are done after the social and popular impact of the movie has already been seen.

Quick Summary
The movie is violent crime drama about a local mafia crime boss, and an undercover agent trying to bring him down, and a dirty detective. It was the fun "double identity" theme where each character has to struggle with concealing his hidden identity and coming to terms with the stress and drama the situation creates. Although the material is all stuff we've seen before, the "hero" undercover agent who wants his identity back, the dirty detective, and the over-the-top hedonistic crime boss ala soprano style and there are numerous continuity problems (listed below), this movie still comes off as outstanding.

What makes this film so good is its absolute superb delivery of its material.

Scorsese proves his ability as an amazingly talented director. Although you've seen these characters and actors before, you've heard lines similar and you've seen many attempts at the same dramatic tension, it's extremely rare that a director is able to pull it all together and keep the story interesting and actively paced from minute 1 to the ending credits. The dramatic tension builds, then releases, and then builds then releases, and there really is never a slow moment. You're always anticipating the final release, but Scorsese never gives it to you, the movie seamlessly flows from one confrontation to another, one suspense building scene to another.

Resources
  • Wikipedia: The DepartedOfficial Movie Site
Comments
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Come on people, are you all crazy. You are all sitting here talking about things in the movie that are not realistic. Who cares, a guy can not text through his pocket without looking (which by the way he probably worked on because he is a bad guy and needs discrete ways to communicate with Costello) but Jedi mind tricks and killers that can kill you in dreams or giant robots from space that come to earth to fight are perfectly o.k. Just enjoy a movie and stop analyzing it. It is not supposed to be realistic, it is a movie, not reality, and I think you guys do not understand that.

Posted on 02/29/2008 at 8:02:03 PM

 
Billy's visit to Aunt Cathy is under the pretext of giving her pictures of his father. Why would Aunt Cathy necessarily want pictures of her dead brother-in-law since it is clear that it is Sean's father and Billy's father who were brothers? Also, the picture of Madelyn first seen in Colin's Apt shows up again back in her apt. Why would she have two copies of the same picture? It might seem that it would make more sense if the Billy scene had come first, but why doesn't Colin want the picture to be seen in the first place? Why does Ellerby put his face in ice water? What good is a police surviellance camera that can't clearly show a face? Why can't anyone call Dignam when Billy comes in?

Posted on 01/01/2008 at 8:01:50 PM

 
As the plot in "Infernal Affairs" was a bit cliched and absurd (also not able to last 2 hours), the adaptation overcomplicated the storyline while still keeping intact nearly all of the elements and scenes, thus letting continuity errors to occur.

Posted on 12/04/2007 at 1:12:00 AM

 
(continuation) 3. The other corrupt cop played a slightly bigger role in the HK version (to hint at him being corrupt). He kills Costigan and tells Sullivan that they can rule the crime syndicate together as it is missing a crime boss. - A crime syndicate may not necessarily fall because the head is killed, second in commands CAN take over. More backstory in the HK version would explain the three points more clearly. For example, one of the multiple endings in "Infernal Affairs" allows Sullivan to survive and correct his ways, working as a good cop.

Posted on 12/04/2007 at 1:12:00 AM

 
Regarding all three continuity errors pointed out: All three points are actually adapted DIRECTLY from the Hong Kong version "Infernal Affairs" and may explain why they make less sense in "The Departed". 1. For the phone error, 'morse code' was used by the undercover cop instead and was transmitted through the mobile. Because of the absurdity of someone understanding morse code and the length needed to transmit a message, this was replaced with SMSing. However, with morse code, it is possible to 'transmit' a message while the phone is in your pocket. 2. In the confrontation scene between the crime boss and Sullivan, (which is in a car park, not a construction site), the boss attempts to persuade Sullivan to not kill him. This is all recorded by Sullivan and once Costigan finds out that he is the mole, he steals the tape and sends it to the girlfriend. A higher organisation (FBI) is not involved. 3. The other corrupt cop played a slightly bigger role in the HK version (to hint at h

Posted on 12/04/2007 at 12:12:00 AM

 
(continued from above) The Departed is a movie about death, betrayal and redemption with heavy christian catholic undertones (crosses, priests, the irish). I was very satisfied with the ending, (not wanting to spoil it) but let me just say it's exactly what you would expect from the Mark Walberg character who had balls the size of Dirk Diggler.

Posted on 07/30/2007 at 12:07:00 AM

 
What you missed is that Costello, while certainly hedonistic and coke-loving, (he literally is high on his supply) continues to deal coke because the FBI ALLOWS HIM TO. He is helping them apprehending Coke sellers (i.e. the coked guy on the couch who gets shot in the leg) thus cutting the problem at the root. To help the FBI do this he is WEARING A WIRE AT ALL TIMES including at the erotic theater as the viewer can fully attest when Sullivan's girlfriend plays that specific conversation. No one would ask Costello to strip to check as he is the boss. He is almost always wearing a suit jacket as well which makes it even easier to conceal spying equipment. About Costello not suspecting Costigan to be an informant: There are two scenes that prove that he did. The scene in the restaurant where he confronts Costigan directly and the scene where Costigan is told to "go home" because he is using new guys for his next job. In both scenes he is convinced by Costigan that he is not rat. The De

Posted on 07/30/2007 at 12:07:00 AM

 
Ummm... I seem to be on the outer here - but I think this movie was over rated. The story was just not credible and the connections between characters were not credible. For instance I found it hard to understand how Martin Sheen and Wahlberg did not know the connection between Matt Damon and Jack N's character. They knew the background of DiCaprio's character really well during his interview. From that point the story got more bogus e.g DiCaprio and Damon sharing the same woman who happens to be the police psychologist. Also Jack N was looking for the RAT in his ranks - how dumb is he that he did not pick the newest member who happened to be an ex-police cadet. The story just does not fit together - the acting and action was great but it is not a great movie.

Posted on 06/26/2007 at 5:06:00 AM

 
In response to Rob's comment, "Regarding whether Wahlberg was a rat or it was a revenge killing, I thought it was revenge..." You may remember earlier that DiCaprio gave an envelope to Madolyn. In my opinion, I believe that this envelope contained all of the tapes and recordings of conversations between Costello and Sullivan, and also an order that in the event of his death (or if he called and told her to open it), she would pass this information on to Dignum. That is why I believe Dignum knew to kill Sullivan.

Posted on 05/21/2007 at 3:05:00 PM

 
no offence but i think your review of this movie sucks and that wikipedia's entry on the departed is even worse. first off, i think the only part Scorsese left more or less unexplained is what Bernie O said: "The one part of the film that bothered me was that the cop played by Anthony Anderson was in the academy with DiCaorio. He was also on the task force that was in charge of knowing Costello's crew. He recognized DiCaprio's character at the end when it was revealed that he was the undercover in Costello's orginization, wouldn't he have at least seen a picture of Costaigan while investigating?" Look the only thing that matters in this movie are the relationships between the different people and how they meet, more or less, at a nexus like in Star Trek VII. Long live Captain Kirk. Anyways the point of the movie is not "how did Billy Costigan manage to send a text message without looking at his phone" or "without pissing his pants," (or without me pissing my pants because the

Posted on 03/26/2007 at 2:03:00 AM

 
A big mistake in this movie is in the alley scene. DiCaprio's character had been getting text messages in the theater from Martin Sheen without his phone ringing, yet in the alley as he is about to confront Matt Damon, a text message causes his phone to ring out loud. Come on!

Posted on 03/09/2007 at 6:03:00 AM

 
The one part of the film that bothered me was that the cop played by Anthony Anderson was in the academy with DiCaorio. He was also on the task force that was in charge of knowing Costello's crew. He recognized DiCaprio's character at the end when it was revealed that he was the undercover in Costello's orginization, wouldn't he have at least seen a picture of Costaigan while investigating?

Posted on 03/08/2007 at 1:03:00 AM

 
Regarding whether Wahlberg was a rat or it was a revenge killing, I thought it was revenge, but my husband felt that he was a rat, noting that a rat runs across the rail in front of the statehouse in that last scene. I still think that rat could symbolize Damon.

Posted on 02/28/2007 at 6:02:00 PM

 
It's silly that bad guy Damon would not have found out sooner that his doctor girlfriend was involved with good guy Di Caprio.

Posted on 02/23/2007 at 11:02:00 AM

 
The reason why Costello recorded his conversations without worrying about evidence of crimes was because he was a rat for the FBI

Posted on 02/22/2007 at 7:02:00 PM

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