Movie Review - The Departed

Dexter Sullivan

March 5 , 2007

Contemporary Lit

Your Top Caliber Gangster Film

My father and I decided to view the film The Departed . This film was a fast-paced , intense , mobster thriller . Its suspenseful energy was dynamic in the development of the storyline . We both agreed that this film was worth seeing . It was a grand collaboration of good acting coupled with enthralling , gripping effects . We discussed the films dramatic performance , its merciless theme , and the subtle trivia underlying the mobster lifestyle

This film used a lot of heavy hitting

' actors to pull of the intensity needed . The legendary Jack Nicholson , Matt Damon , Leonardo DiCaprio , along with a host of others . DiCaprio 's two sided character was so expressively confused , I could literally feel his struggle . Matt Damon 's deceptiveness was uncanny . From the unlikely turn he takes into police work , to the use of his position to scheme for the underworld is menacing beyond compare . And though the film script is well written and moves with fluid energy , it would be nothing without the impeccable acting . The contrast of Costigan (DiCaprio ) and Sullivan (Damon ) is played so well that the viewers feel as though they 're a part of these men 's entire life experiences . The films strength is drawn greatly from the profundity from which the actors act from . They truly encapsulate the depth of a gangster 's state of affairs

The Departed incorporates a host of merciless plots to take the lives of fellow gangsters , opposing arch enemies , and innocent bystanders that interfere or contribute to the task at hand . Personally , this film was hard to watch , seeing that I don 't view many gangster films . At first the constant killing was horrendous to me . But as my father - more of an expert than myself - and I continued to watch , I was a bit disturbed that the murdering was almost becoming common place in my mind . To a certain degree , however , this type of picture needed to be painted to properly account for the film 's viewpoint . The violence builds upon itself , and ends in the greatest destruction , the loss of a massive leader - mobster or not . With this film , however , it didn 't stop there When it felt that the end had surfaced with the death of ring leader Costello (Nicholson , a series of deaths closer to the subplot occur This makes the film take an even more personal turn . Each death is connected by some event - through way of romance , a previous relationship , or even vengeance . Dad and I both agreed that the subplot and the main plot almost flip flop their roles towards the end of the film , because the subplot answers the summation of the script - who wins

There was interesting symbolism in this film that foreshadowed and explained the film in further detail when thought through . Every time someone 's fate is to be tested or we are about to witness the impending slaughter or doom of an individual , we see an imbedded...