Review of The Departed (2006) by Brent R — 19 Jun 2015
This movie had great promise in terms of acting talent but that promise wasn't kept. I'm baffled how anyone could like this movie. Do you root for a character? Which one? It doesn't matter because they will all be dead before the credits roll.
Well, maybe it's gritty with a hard edge? No, the violence is matter-of-fact and in the elevator scene at the end it devolves into three stooges comedy. There's no plot; there's no theme. The story never gets told.
Take the pointless characters in "Carnal Knowledge" and overlay the senseless death in "Easy Rider" times three and you you have something close to this movie. It's a mistake to think that this movie is about either organized crime or the police because has neither the depth nor the common sense of either.
The director seeks to overcome his own clumsy handling of the plot by trying desperately to pump up the drama. However, as he bulldozes over any sense of connection or reality for these characters, the fake drama becomes pointless.
Scorsese even resorts to plucking plot points out of thin air to try to save the story but it doesn't work. The ending leaves a number of items left unexplained. More than anything else, this movie was a criminal waste of acting talent.
This review of The Departed (2006) was written by Brent R on 19 Jun 2015.
The Departed has generally received very positive reviews.
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