DVD Talk Forum

DVD Talk Forum (https://forum.dvdtalk.com/)
-   Movie Talk (https://forum.dvdtalk.com/movie-talk-17/)
-   -   The Departed - review thread (https://forum.dvdtalk.com/movie-talk/479474-departed-review-thread.html)

hardercore 01-15-07 04:59 PM


Originally Posted by Buttmunker
If you had to pick one (1) actor to win an Oscar from this film, who would it be? DiCaprio, Damon, Wahlberg, or Nicholson?

I would want to ensure, above everything else, that Martin Scorsese gets his Oscar. But of the actors, I think DiCaprio is the most deserving. This is the best performance of his career.

Buttmunker 01-16-07 08:33 AM

What was Damon's bullshit report after the elevator incident?
Spoiler:
How did he clear himself?

Buttmunker 01-22-07 03:02 PM

Would The Departed be:

a) a better movie with Robert DeNiro in the role of Captain Queenan instead of Martin Sheen

b) a better movie with Denis Leary in the role of Sgt. Dignam instead of Mark Wahlberg

These two actors (DeNiro/Leary) were originally slated for those roles. Do you think their inclusion would have made the film even better than it was, or worse?

MasterCXtreme 01-22-07 03:20 PM

a) Maybe, but it wasn't exactly a DeNiro kind of role... but it would have added a lot to one hell of an ensemble cast. It would've been cool, but the movie didn't need it.
b) No, Wahlberg was perfect... although I do love Leary.

BradJ 02-04-07 08:08 PM

Ok, plot questions that are driving me nuts...

Why did
Spoiler:
Dignam
kill
Spoiler:
Sullivan
?

Was
Spoiler:
Dignam
a rat, too?

And

Was
Spoiler:
Delahunt
a
Spoiler:
Statey, FBI, or neither?


ARGH!

I read a couple of random pages on this thread, not all of them, so I'm sorry if it was already answered...

zekeburger1979 02-04-07 09:54 PM


Originally Posted by BradJ
Ok, plot questions that are driving me nuts...

Why did
Spoiler:
Dignam
kill
Spoiler:
Sullivan
?

Spoiler:
Revenge for killing Queenan




Was
Spoiler:
Dignam
a rat, too?
No.



And Was
Spoiler:
Delahunt
a
Spoiler:
Statey, FBI, or neither?

I don't think he was either. Than again, it's been a few months since I've seen it. I'll definitely be getting the 2-disc DVD on the 13th.

hardercore 02-05-07 04:02 AM


Originally Posted by BradJ
Was
Spoiler:
Delahunt
a
Spoiler:
Statey, FBI, or neither?

Spoiler:
I don't think Delahunt was, I think once the Staties learned that Delahunt was killed they broadcast on the news that he was an undercover cop to throw Costello's gang off Billy's scent

Josh H 02-13-07 10:43 PM

Watched this for the first time tonight. What a fantastic movie!

Marty better finally get the Oscar he's been screwed out of so many times before.

esc24 02-14-07 12:02 AM

Just got done watching and liked it a lot. My only problem is how much praise Scorsese is getting for the movie. While i really liked it i don't think it's fair to give Scorsese so much credit since the movie was so similar to the original. True, he did a great job, but he had a lot to work with.

Josh H 02-14-07 10:04 AM


Originally Posted by BradJ
Why did
Spoiler:
Dignam
kill
Spoiler:
Sullivan
?

To expand on zekeburger's response

Spoiler:
One would assume that the envelope Billy gave to the psychiatrist had details/evidence of what was going with instructions to give it to Dignam.

Thus when he got it, he took out Sullivan in revenge for killing his boss, Billy, the other cops etc.

OldBoy 02-14-07 10:41 AM


Originally Posted by esc24
Just got done watching and liked it a lot. My only problem is how much praise Scorsese is getting for the movie. While i really liked it i don't think it's fair to give Scorsese so much credit since the movie was so similar to the original. True, he did a great job, but he had a lot to work with.

:jawdrop:

Mopower 02-14-07 11:38 AM

Just saw it. It was ok. Don't understand the high praise. Decaprio was great and Nicholsons performance was amazing. Damon's was blah. Maybe because I had Boston accents. Can Scorsese ever make a movie that's under 3 hours?

One question I have is why didn't

Spoiler:
Billy go to Dignum right after he found the "citizens" letter on Sullivans table? It would have been proof right there along with the CD of the audio he had. Why did he go after Sullivan alone? It would have been better than the rediculous 3 head shot ending.

Josh H 02-14-07 11:50 AM


Originally Posted by Mopower
Can Scorsese ever make a movie that's under 3 hours?

Obviously he can since this one is 2 1/2 hours.

ScandalUMD 02-14-07 11:57 AM


Originally Posted by hardercore
Spoiler:
I don't think Delahunt was, I think once the Staties learned that Delahunt was killed they broadcast on the news that he was an undercover cop to throw Costello's gang off Billy's scent

Spoiler:


No. He's definitely a cop. He is a storytelling device. He establishes that there is other stuff going on that the characters (and audience) are unaware of, so that, when Costello's other guy in the State Police shows up out of nowhere to shoot Billy, it seems less of an artificially contrived twist.

Of course, Dignam reappearing to off Sullivan at the end is completely external and unexplained, except to make it evident that Dignam was clearly a part of something Sullivan was unaware of. If Dignam was an honest cop, and he found out that Sullivan was Costello's rat, he would have tried to arrest him, so it seems likely he was into something. But it seems unlikely that he was in with Costello, because he knew Costigan's identity.



Usually, it's sloppy storytelling for something to come in from outside the story to affect the plot, but directors in their Scorsese seems to like the idea of the conflicts at the center of his films being swallowed up by larger narratives.

Kind of like, in "Gangs of New York," where he spent two hours building the conflict between the characters, and then rendered the climactic showdown totally moot and ridiculous against the backdrop of the draft riots.

"Casino" takes on a similar tone at its end; after all his struggles against the various antagonists he has to fend off during the course of the movie, the protagonist is ultimately undone by the corporatization of the casino business, a force external to the story and outside the narrative.

Maybe Scorsese is making some philosophical point about the futility of man's endeavors against the scope of history. Or maybe he figures that, despite the general attitude that a twist from outside the narrative is sloppy, it is appropriate for these stories, because, when these guys get it, they get it from somewhere they didn't see it coming from, and the audience shouldn't see it coming either..

Josh H 02-14-07 11:59 AM

Scandal,

I disagree that Dignam's action at the end came out of no where, see my post above (#188).

slop101 02-14-07 12:07 PM


Originally Posted by Mopower
One question I have is why didn't

Spoiler:
Billy go to Dignum right after he found the "citizens" letter on Sullivans table? It would have been proof right there along with the CD of the audio he had. Why did he go after Sullivan alone? It would have been better than the rediculous 3 head shot ending.

I loved this movie, but yeah, I sorta had the same problem here as you did. Throughout the movie, the characters are basically smart and don't do anything too stupid or illogical. So it really doesn't make sense that
Spoiler:
Billy wouldn't go right to Whalberg, and that he'd instead confront Damon in such a dangerous way, especially since he has so much evidence against him. Speaking of the evidence, if he had all Costello's recordings wouldn't he also have found out the other rat-cop (the one that ended up shooting him)? Why couldn't he just take all his evidence straight to Whalburg who in turn could give it to Baldwin who would then arrest Damon, and the other rat?

slop101 02-14-07 12:14 PM


Originally Posted by ScandalUMD
Spoiler:


No. He's definitely a cop. He is a storytelling device. He establishes that there is other stuff going on that the characters (and audience) are unaware of, so that, when Costello's other guy in the State Police shows up out of nowhere to shoot Billy, it seems less of an artificially contrived twist.

Of course, Dignam reappearing to off Sullivan at the end is completely external and unexplained, except to make it evident that Dignam was clearly a part of something Sullivan was unaware of. If Dignam was an honest cop, and he found out that Sullivan was Costello's rat, he would have tried to arrest him, so it seems likely he was into something. But it seems unlikely that he was in with Costello, because he knew Costigan's identity.


No. I totally diagree.
Spoiler:
Like Josh said, Dignam's action at the end ties directly into the envelope Billy gave the psychiatrist - like he told her, if anything were to happen to him, then she should open the envelope, which was a way to let Dignam in on things. What I don't understand is why he couldn't out Damon and the other rat the second he got the recordings, and why he had to do it so confrontationally - I guess it was more cinematic this way

OldBoy 02-14-07 12:15 PM


Originally Posted by Josh Hinkle
Obviously he can since this one is 2 1/2 hours.

in fact most in not all his movies are under 3 hours. and usually clock 2.5. "Casino" being the lengthiest at just shy of 3.

ScandalUMD 02-14-07 12:17 PM


Originally Posted by Josh Hinkle
Scandal,

I disagree that Dignam's action at the end came out of no where, see my post above (#188).


Spoiler:


Seems unlikely. If Costigan's letter told her where to find the tapes, and instructed her to contact Dignam, then Dignam would have the tapes.

If that were the case, he'd certainly use that information to bust Sullivan, which would get him back onto the force in good standing, and severely tarnish Alec Baldwin, who was ultimately responsible for allowing the leak into his unit.

If Dignam is a straight cop, it doesn't make sense that he's going to break into Sullivan's apartment and kill him.

But all this is extrapolated. The movie is deliberately constructed with that piece missing. Scorsese isn't going to leave something like that connected so sloppily if he'd meant for it to be explained in the narrative, and I don't think the connection is quite so mundane as the one you're trying to draw.

I think it's meant to suggest that, in Sullivan's cat-and-mouse fight with Costigan, he looked past another dangerous character with secrets and subtexts of his own.


Josh H 02-14-07 12:26 PM

Just have to agree to disagree then. I think it was the envelope and that he wanted revenge rather than getting back in good graces that explain it. :shrug:

redrum 02-14-07 12:36 PM

why do you people not want badass headshots in the movie? you crazy!

Mopower 02-14-07 12:41 PM


Originally Posted by Josh Hinkle
Obviously he can since this one is 2 1/2 hours.

Well it certainly felt like 3 hours.

Rizor 02-14-07 01:20 PM


Originally Posted by slop101
I loved this movie, but yeah, I sorta had the same problem here as you did. Throughout the movie, the characters are basically smart and don't do anything too stupid or illogical. So it really doesn't make sense that
Spoiler:
Billy wouldn't go right to Whalberg, and that he'd instead confront Damon in such a dangerous way, especially since he has so much evidence against him. Speaking of the evidence, if he had all Costello's recordings wouldn't he also have found out the other rat-cop (the one that ended up shooting him)? Why couldn't he just take all his evidence straight to Whalburg who in turn could give it to Baldwin who would then arrest Damon, and the other rat?

Spoiler:
From Sullivan's dialogue to Costello, Dignam left the force and disappeared. He was untraceable. I don't know how exactly he came back out of hiding, but I assume when he found out about Costello's death, he came out of the woodwork.

slop101 02-14-07 02:13 PM

Even still, just like he mailed the recordings to the Damon, he could've mailed them to the police, or at least found a way to get the evidence to someone that would help - which would've been way smarter than what he did. And that still doesn't explain why he still didn't know about Costello's other guy on the force after he had the recordings - because if he did, he should've handled things differently.

Snowmaker 02-14-07 02:28 PM

Just watched it for the first time. Pretty good, but the end left me a bit confused:

Spoiler:
1. What was supposedly in that envelope Leo gave the shrink? Did I miss it?

2. So, was Marky Mark really good or bad? I couldn't quite understand his motive for just shooting Damon like that.


All times are GMT -5. The time now is 07:29 PM.


Copyright © 2026 MH Sub I, LLC dba Internet Brands. All rights reserved. Use of this site indicates your consent to the Terms of Use.