The Departed - Movie Review, Analysis, and Mistakes
October 8, 2006
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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 dri
ver” 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.
This movie is ingenious in the way it avoids the pitfall of creating one dimensional characters with an attempt to make these characters appear multi-dimensional by forcing the audience to watch bland back stories trying to provide motivation for their actions. I’d rather see the crime boss doing what he does best and later on watch the collapse of his empire. I love that this movie avoids the typical flashback into his unpleasant childhood. Scorsese never focuses on one character for too long, instead he keeps the dramatic tension high and passes from character to character in brilliant transitions which focus on the plot and purposely leaves most of the characters as puppets playing their minor roles in a larger production far beyond their individual control or perception.
The humor is also excitingly dark and fast flowing. The movie is set in south Boston complete with strong accents and is thoroughly engrossing.
The only part of this film that is a bit disapointing is at the very end.
Without giving it away, (see continuity problems below for the spoiler) it forcefully steps over the “probability” threshold and although it is meant to be very climatic and intense, it comes off as a bit of a weak point and may leave you wanting more. Even with the ending the movie is top notch.
Continuity problems and unrealistic events –
Note: films are fake worlds; unless it’s a documentary, it’s almost impossible to create a film without a single hole, or a single mistake in continuity. I am mentioning these for two reasons
1. I think its fun to analyze movies and since my mind does it automatically anyways, I might as well enjoy picking up on all the mistakes or unrealistic improbabilities.
2. Analyzing the holes and mistakes exercises my rational, logical thinking skills and I believe that is what makes it enjoyable (1) and hopefully will encourage writers like myself to avoid those logical mistakes in the future.
Unrealistic elements in the movie: (WARNING: PLOT SPOILER. These may reveal the plot so if you haven’t seen the movie yet you may not want to spoil it for yourself).
1. In one crucial scene one of the characters sends a text message by typing it while it’s in his pockets. How the hell did he navigate the menus and then type the numbers and message without looking at his phone even once? Not that it isn’t possible, but I have trouble believing he would do that, why not have him take a piss and text the message while looking at his phone? Would that be so hard?
2. It’s revealed after the death of the crime boss that he was “recording” all his phone conversations (including cell phone conversations) and has them all perfectly setup on burned CDs for delivery to his lawyer upon his death. What the heck? In the movie they show him just answering his cell phone by flipping it open and saying hello. Cell-phones don’t automatically record your conversations in crystal clarity and have them ready to be transferred anywhere. I don’t buy that he hired a programmer to re-program his cell phone and if that was suppose to have happened, they should have showed that, cause it rings like BS to me. Plus wouldn’t that be as stupid thing to do anyways? Create all that evidence against yourself that if it was seized for whatever reason could convict you of a whole number of crimes? This was a weak attempt at making the ending un-predictable and I didn’t buy it.
3. For the final twist, when the undercover agent (played by Leonardo Dicaprio) is arresting the dirty detective (played by Matt Dameon) he is shot and killed along with another cop by a agent who reveals himself to have been corrupt. With the main head boss killed and the crime syndicate in shambles, why would this agent kill two cops to save another dirty detective who didn’t know about his identity? You would think he’d be quiet and never let anyone know about his true identity, now that the crime lord he was originally tipping of was dead and so were his henchmen. Yet another attempt at making the ending up-predictable. This one was completely absurd.
If you caught anymore, please leave a comment below.
About Leonardo DiCaprio, although I believe he is a highly accomplished actor, every movie I see him in, he always has the same serious expression on his face. He always looks like he’s trying to take a crap. Anyone else feel this way?
Humorous final comment:
When I was leaving the theater, an older man in front of me made an a amusing comment on the ending of the movie.
“Everyone dies… I wanted at least someone to live. Heck even the bad guy, maybe he could have run for city mayor or something”
Additional Resources:
good movie but somehow i felt there was something artificial about the whole thing !!
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(spoilers follow)
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Just my thoughts as I read your article:
1.) If I remember correctly this text was sent while in the middle of the microprocessor buy. I think it’d be slightly difficult to explain having to go take a piss. However, I will agree it might be difficult to text while in your pocket. Unless of course you’ve been sending so many text messages you have the motions memorized.
2.) This would be easy to accomplish without the need for a programmer. (in a way). There are many call forwarding services available that provide a single point of contact that then routes the calls automatically to whatever number you wish. Although not legal, you could record these calls while they pass through the main system. It’s not cheap, but it’s technically feasible.
3.) Agreed. I didn’t get this either. The only thing I could think of is maybe the crew was not all gone.
I just saw the movie last night. I loved it, but probably was not as attentive as I should have been. I would be grateful if someone could clear up the following points, about which I am still confused:
1. What motivated the Costello gang member who was wounded at the shoot-out where the lieutenant was thrown off the building? Why did he give Costigan the wrong address (614 vice 644)–to test whether he was the mole? This seems improbable for a variety of reasons too complicated to explain. I assume the gang member was himself a government mole, from his dying words, and from the fact that he didn’t give Costigan away.
2. Since the corrupt cop (Sullivan) didn’t seem to mind popping people left and right, why didn’t he kill his girl friend when she played him the CD that incriminated him? The fact that she was supposedly carrying his baby seems like a pretty thin explanation.
3. What exactly was in the brown envelope that Costigan gave to the girl? Was that revealed? If so, I must have been busy with popcorn at the time.
4. What exactly did Costigan mean when he told Sullivan to “give him his identity back”? When he later sent Sullivan the CD (intercepted by the girl friend), he seemed to be asking for money, as if that was his main motivation.
5. When Costigan discovered the “Citizen” envelope on Sullivan’s desk, why did he run off? Why didn’t he just expose Sullivan (and claim his bonus money, if that was his motivation) on the spot? With Costello and his gang all dead, I don’t see how Sullivan could have harmed Costigan at that point.
6. Like you, I also couldn’t figure out why the second Costello mole took the trouble to kill Costigan and the other cop at the end. It also seemed a little contrived, since there had been no hint until then of a second Costello mole.
Wow, the 2nd point about the unlikelyhood of navigating through the phone while its in his pocket…
um clearly the guy knew what he was doing. Think about how many times he has went through that exact sequence to text message his contact… He’s also the kind of guy to prepare, and practice that sort of scenario, he is hardcore about it. Hes also probably the kind of guy who would do it once and NEVER forget how to do it without looking. It adds a sense of skill and intensity, pressure and success under that pressure due to skill and high excellency…
The beginning of the movie was so slow that I almost turned it off. It was a good movie, but I did not like or understand the ending.
As for the text messaging, it is actually quite easy to text message without looking at nething. I guess you just have to take it as an assumption that colin sullivan (matt damon) knew what he was doing. And about the fone recordings….if u remember he was an FBI informant, he already coulda had his cell fone bugged for every fone call he received. Although it doesnt tell you that, it should be an automatic assumption
As for the first thing you were talking about text messaging without looking what you are doing….it is actually pretty easy. If you do it enough times, you get used to pressing the buttons, much like a computer keyboard. So therefore I don’t think when Colin (Matt Damon) is texting is impossible. And second, about the cell phone recordings. You have to remember that Frank Costello was an FBI informant which means he prob already had every single thing bugged from the beginning. I’m not saying that is true but its an assumption that you have to make and stop trying to make the movie sound unrealistic. HAHAHA. It is very much realistic, I know from experience….
The great cell phone skills or surprise recorded phone messages did not bother me but there were allot of other questions I had after watching this movie, enough so that I did a search online to see if It was just me or did others have the same questions I did. I usually analyze a movie after watching it briefly but I never write it all down or discuss it in a form, what a waste of time, mabey I have OC or im just pissed about the ending.
I would have liked to see what was in the brown envelope, was it evidence Dicaprio’s character was an undercover cop or dirt on the mole? If so then why not just take that to the authorities instead of the psychiatrist. Why is she the only one he could trust, as far as he knew there was only one mole and he knew exactly who it was so there was basically only one person he could not trust. Also later he even trusted two cops he barely knew and invited them to the sight of his supervisors murder.
Then after Dicaprio’s character received the phone recordings from the mob bosses lawyer why would Dicaprio’s character go after Dameon’s character directly, I’m sure the normal thing for a cop to do not to mention safer and easier would be to take the recorded evidence to the authorities and let them handle it, was the arrest just a stage to kill matt Dameon’s character? In the elevator matt Dameon’s character said to just kill me and Dicaprio’s character said he was going to right before he himself got a bullet in the head. A staged murder scenario dose not make sense either because why call two confused officers to the scene if Dicaprio’s was just going to kill Dameon’s character? If he was going to kill Daemon’s character and claim self defense and use the other cops presence as some sort of legitimacy to a staged self defense but really murder situation then he would have probably shot him or at least ready to shoot him in the elevator before the ground floor door opened since that might have been the only opportunity, but he didn’t look ready to do anything but take him to the station. If he did really want to take down Daemon’s character legally with the help of two officers why is it he did not brief them a little better or even show them the evidence before they all arrived pointing guns at each other? Since when do police or even detectives show up at a random location or rooftop all by themselves without any backup based on a phone call from anyone, possible undercover or unknown status? If they were briefed by Dicaprio’s character in advance that might explain why the second mole knew Daemon’s character was also a mole but not everything else.
Also Dicaprio’s character was undercover for over a year surrounded by the worst criminal element and no backup but suddenly he sees the incriminating white envelope on matt Dameon’s characters desk and runs like a little girl. He could have easily busted him or begin to sort the whole thing out right there, assuming he thought Daemon’s character already deleted the file and it is just as simple as pressing a delete button to erase over a years worth of work and his undercover identity, he still has the white envelope and what’s inside, everyone’s fingerprints all over the envelope, also as a detective he would probably know some computer geek could probably un delete or recover it but also Wahlbergs character his second and only alive contact can easily verify it.
Also matt Dameon’s characters girl friend had the CD proving Dameon’s characters involvement as a mole, she said he was a liar and obviously knew something was wrong, she was a police psychiatrist but did not have the sense of duty to take the CD to the authorities, baby or no baby it seemed clear she no longer wanted to be involved with him so why not take the CD to the authorities and let them sort it out what is the truth, at that point she had no reason to believe anything he said even if she did listen to some clever lie/explanation which she didn’t. Also it seems Matt Dameons character would have to kill her just to be on the safe side but he didn’t seemed worried at all.
Finally the second surprise mole who by some miracle happened to be one of two people on Decaprio’s trusted cops list why would he kill anyone considering no one knew about him and his boss was dead but also if he suspected someone did know about him or want to do some laundry and clean house to be on the safe side why not kill Daemon’s character also, I mean why suddenly trust Daemon’s character who just won an award for taking down the mob boss (their boss) he just got the second moles boss and crime family killed and suddenly the second mole is protecting Daemon’s character, if anything it seems it would have been in his interest to kill Daemon’s character by surprise and expose Daemon’s character as the mole everyone was looking for instead of visa versa, he cant be cold blooded enough to want to kill Dicaprio’s character and the other cop and save Daemon’s character as a comrade who was really only a loose end and no use to him at that point.
The whole ending seemed rushed and it was a long movie so I guess needed to end but to much of it did not make sense or seem probable. It would still have been a rushed ending but I think would have ended a little better if Decaprio summoned Daemon’s character to the roof and called the chief of detective unit Baldwin’s character and told him what was going down, but instead of arranging cops on the scene Baldwin’s character shows up himself and shoots Daemon’s or Dicprios character leaving the other one standing confused asking why, Baldwin confesses or not and as soon as done shoots the last character before they can make a move or after they try to make a move or something like that, basically Baldwin would have been the 2nd mole sort of like an uber mole that was working for the mob boss or someone higher up than the mob boss or had his own agenda and he was basically doing laundry at that point killing the mob boss traitor Damons character then the movie ends or Wahlbergs character either somehow bust or murders Baldwin’s character, or leave an opening for Wahlberg and Baldwin in Departed 2. During the golf scene Baldwins character said to Dameon’s character that “you have an immaculate record, some people don’t trust a guy with an immaculate record, I do , I have an immaculate record.” also Baldwins character was always super supportive of Dameons character, he could have been a mole or even a step up like a mole handler, after he said that I thought he was possibly dirty.
During the scene where Costigan gets his broken arm rebroken, it looked like his whole cast was removed/torn. Then in the final shot of the scene the cast is back on his arm. Also, why didn’t anyone question how sullivan could afford that expensive apartment on a cop’s salary?
Delahunt, who worked for Costello and died at the gang’s hideout after the shootout at 644, told Costigan he figured out he was the undecover cop. In his dying breath he implied he didn’t out him beacuse he himself was a mole. Wahlberg’s character also said they had at least one man on the inside, which I didn’t think to much about figuring he just wanted to be vague about what they were doing to the other cops. If this was the case, and since Delahunt was with Costello for years, couldn’t they have quickly made a case against Costello??
During the scene where Costigan gets his broken arm rebroken, it looked like his whole cast was removed/torn. Then in the final shot of the scene the cast is back on his arm. Also, why didn’t anyone question how sullivan could afford that expensive apartment on a cop’s salary?
-Maybe he got a little help from his friend costello.
The real estate agent also questions how he is going to afford it, when he’s “just” a sergent police. He gets mad when questioned.
If Delahunt was a rat, it was pretty crazy he was firing guns at the police then, when he gets shot.
I found most of this movie believable — up until the ending and especially the sequence of killings at the end. What was this? A world record for how many head-shot kills they could fit into one movie ending?
Personally, I didn’t find the no-look text messaging that much of a marvel, but then again, I’ve seen my two teenagers text messaging on a phone faster than most people can type on a QWERTY keyboard, so….
I also didn’t like how many people ended up “undercover”. You had the one “undercover” henchman die after his thinly veiled confession to Costigan, but prior to that incident this henchman was shown as nothing but a goof and a idiot. Wasn’t he listed as “muscle” during the SIU rundown meeting? Also, why were they trying so darn hard to get Costigan to go undercover when the SIU already had the “muscle henchman” nicely placed undercover, with apparently no where near the publicized background of being a police officer like Costigan did. It sort of nullified the purpose for the entire movie or at least one main part of the plot. The same can be said of the second mob guy who was a cop. I hate it when movies pull things out of thin air like that. I don’t mind a movie being even slightly predictable rather than there being no way possible to foresee the ending because they’re pulling things we couldn’t have possibly known right out of left field.
I also didn’t give much thought to the mob boss having all his calls recorded on CD. Honestly, up until that time, I didn’t completely believe that he was a FBI informant — I though they were just using that as a strategy to help expose the mole or cause doubt among the mob henchmen in their leader or possibly distract the mob from their search for the undercover cop. Once I realized that he really was a FBI informant, I didn’t give the phone recordings any further thought, and just wrote it off as something the FBI was doing. However, there is one part with hindsight that bothered me about that. If the FBI was recording all his calls, wouldn’t they have just traced his daily (if not hourly) calls to mob cop(s)? I would think that there could be no greater person or people to inform on than crooked cops who are in bed with the mob, right? Wouldn’t the FBI put a priority on that over the mob boss turning in information on his competitors?
This was a pretty intense movie and it kept me interested pretty far into the movie. However, in my opinion, the movie fell apart at the end and the ending is actually just a hair shy of ruining the entire movie.
Two issues:
1) I, like soem others, was concerend about the brown envelope in the desk. It seemed kind of pointless to make such a big deal about it and then not have some resolution.
2) I was also concerned about Damon’s character’s access to the personnel files: Would he really, even in an investigatve role, be permitted to delete a personnel files; & even harder to believe was that he was somehow able to recreate that personnel file, put diCaprio up for commendation, and have a police funeral. This part seemed a bit shaky.
1. I was disappointed to never know what was in the brown envelope that the Psychiatrist was entrusted with and even tormented by as evidenced by seeing her fingers slip under the sealed flap (knowing she wanted to just rip it open.) It gave the impression that it would be a key to the final moments of the movie especially when Leo’s character made reference of seeing her in 2 weeks and that it would all make sence.
2. Also It seemed unreal for Mark Walbergs character to go to such extremes in the end of the movie by dressing as if he was trying to protect himself from leaving any type of evidence and then being so careless so as to kill Matt Damons character with the door wide open and then walking out still wearing the rediculous ’surgical’ outfit and paper foot booties as though he would just blend in with the lady that had just walked by with her dog to the elevator. WAIT! Maybe she was undercover too and holding the elevator for him to make his excape.
I’m sad to see that hardly anyone understands this simple movie, that gives the “Illusion” of complexity.
The beginning of the movie told it all! Plain and simple.
Don’t trust anyone, and lifes a jungle of survival of the fittest. Do what it takes to stay on top. Everyone and everything is a confused pawn. A game of cat and mouse. Cops and robbers. No matter how close you think you are, no matter what information that combs your shoulder, still nothing will get you any closer to the truth.
It’s a dog eat dog world. EVERYONES A RAT! Instead of asking this and that about questions of nonsense, you should have been asking yourselves.
What would it take for someone to turn sides? What is sacrifice, and what would a normal guy do to sacrifice for justice, or success?
Frank Costello said it all. “I don’t want to be a product of my environment. I want my environment to be a product of me.”
“No one gives it to you. You have to take it.”
“Heavy lies the crown”
CONTROL. Who is in control? Who’s on top? Well thats a very hard question to answer.
It’s like asking the meaning of life. If you ask me no one is in control, and whoevers on top today might not be tommorrow.
When Frank Costello said.
How’s your mother?
She’s on her way out.
Frank Costello: We all are, act accordingly
This is important. Think about it for a minute…
He’s saying who cares, who gives a fuck! Were all dying with each breathe we take until our last.
“When I was your age they used to say you could become cops or criminals. What I’m saying is this… When you’re facing a loaded gun, what’s the difference?”
Once again “Control” is the discussion. There are no rules of engagement. It doesn’t matter if your good, evil, black or white. When someone points a loaded gun to your face your going to either fight for your life, or surrender.
This movie is also about secrecy. People hate not knowing the truth. Everyone wants to know this and that.
Well thats kind of the point? duh… our not suppose to know everything, if even anything at all. It’s not suppose to make sense and thats the beauty of it.
Thats why you don’t know whats in the letter, and thats why the ending doesn’t make sense, and so on, and on, and on.
Dignam said it best they have more there are so many rats that not even rats no who rats are.
But the moral of the story is that life is a business that comes a few cents short of a penny.
Crime and Justice, just like Wal-mart, and K-mart are competing. The only problem is that Wal-Mart can thrive without K-Mart. But Justice, and Law can’t thrive without crime. Remember what Colin said to Madolyn?
Madolyn - If there were no criminals who would you arrest?
Colin - Innocents…
Like Megadeth once said “Killing is business and business is good”.
Peace, MC
Hi. Interesting discussion on The Departed. i loved it at the theater. One of my top favorite movies. there are still things i am not totally sure about. ABOUT THE KILLING: I agree about all the killing at the ending. It seems convenient to set up the last act of the movie. For example WHY not kill Damon’s character too and make it look like Leo does it? (As some others have said) The boss et al - are dead, no one will kill you if you off Sullivan. These things make me feel “stupid” that i cannot solve them, but do not ultimately harm my enjoyment of the movie.
Life is about choices. So - they made choices - “off this guy” “don’t do that guy” - maybe it was not always the smartest thing to do - but you make some calculated choice. However, i did NOT buy “We gotta stick together” either. Why form a “buddy” at that late stage of the game??? Well, i am belaboring this, i know. I do believe it all happened to set up the big punch ending.
On another note, i think the LOVE SCENE between Leonardo and The Shrink (not sure her name, sorry) is one of the best i have ever seen. The entire relationship is crafted well. Love scenes, once they begin - are over. The anticipation is all. And it is so well done here. Leo is so REAL - truthful. I read somewhere that Damon is always “watching himself” - well, i know from acting that you cannot be “self-conscious” and do a scene properly. So, maybe this is the perceived shortfall with Damon, tho i really loved Damon in the Bourne role. And Ripley too. But these are NOT vulnerable roles. The Leo role is very vulnerable and he plays it beautifully. I have wondered if Damon and DiCaprio could have swapped. I do not think so. So, i loved the movie, and i agree about the fact that - when you are looking at a gun, who cares about sides. People make up their own rules and then want to enforce them - this is about a very high level game of who has the control, as someone else said. I saw that - the blurred lines between the organizations, and no, it does not have to be all neat and all understood or “logical” either.
Some say Nicholson was over the top - but i enjoyed the performance - he IS over the top - this character. And i LOVED Mark Wahlburg - brilliant. Excellent timing. For me, the movie worked because of the performances of the key roles. Damon was the most “empty” role for me, but i think that was the point! He had an emptiness, as a puppet.
As for TEXTING in your coat pocket - i saw a report on kids in school and how they can text easily in their pockets all the time! Right in class! So, then i believed it easily.
Thank you.
OH - one more thing. The conversation that was taped that the Shrink heard was not even a phone conversation - it was the dialog in that sleazy movie house when Colin got the list. So - that is easily doable, as it only requires that Costello is wearing a wire. Costigan says “Costello recorded everything” I APOLOGIZE if this is already well discussed - i did not have time to read every response, just several. So, maybe “everything” really means LIVE conversations anyway. Plus i realize that by now, several people have scrutinized the DVDs - but in case people are still talking about this movie, OR don’t have the DVDs, i just thought i would point this out. THANKS.