Review of The Departed (2006) by Nickolas W — 15 Aug 2014

The Departed is considered a drama film that was originally a remake of a foreign film. The film submerges the viewer into the life of the Massachusetts State police and the Irish organized crime in Boston. The key roles in this movie include gang members, police officers, undercover officers, mob boss, and a therapist. The films genre falls into the drama category and meets the requirements for the drama genre. A typical genre film involves an emotional buildup of characters and the characters approach to dealing with problems in the film. IN this film the audience is connected to Leonardo Dicaprio (Billy) and follows the conflict of him being on "off the books" undercover officer.

The sound use in this movie is outstanding. The music is the primary atmosphere setter and uses the music to set the emotion for key plot points. For example the band Dropkick Murphy's plays Shipping up to Boston. This song is played while showing the main group of gang members and helps signify the gangs success and "don't care" attitude.

Cinematography of the film is interesting because it gives a dark gloomy look to Boston. This appearance made me want to eat a bowl of England Clam Chowder while watching this great action packed drama.

Editing provided and overall setting during the action scenes and assisted to contributing to twists. Without giving away any part of the movie the editing is used to give a twist in last parts of the movie. For example there is an elevator scene that turns deadly and the editing assists on changing who the shooter is.

As a rating this film receives a high rating and is suggested for any drama go getter.