The Departed - Outcome

Spoiler Warning: This posting may contain plot spoilers and plot endings
undesirable to be known. Proceed on your own accord.

Well, this re-hatch of Internal Affairs (Hong Kong smash in 2002) centainly got this blogger's attention. The film started out real slow and not surprisingly, a decent late-bloomer. Basically, 2 cops (Bill Constigan - Di Caprio and Collin Sullivan -Damon) on 'opposite sides' of the law enter into a web of deception, lies and cover up... When I say 'opposite sides', I'm using the words very relative to the characterisation of a good cop - bad cop dichotomy.

Damon, who plays Det. Sullivan (an up and coming state police detective in Boston's Special Investigations Unit (SIU) ) portrays a 'goody-two-shoe' cop who was at a tender age, cared and almost fostered by Nicholson, who plays an Irish Mafia boss in Boston, Frank Costello...how apt sounding. On the other side of the spectrum, Di Caprio, who plays another cop, much less fortunate than Sullivan, being called in to go deep undercover in Costello's nest...

Sullivan whose squeky -clean image earns him much respect and hardly anyone's suspect of a rat in the police... and for years, Oliver Queenan (play by Martin Sheen), flanked by the really blunt Sergeat Dignam (played by Mark Wahlberg), the chief who's been waiting to put Costello away thought he had a break when Costigan agreed to be the undercover option...all at the expense of this life...all this, while Sullivan tipped off Costello everytime a raid was imminent....with Queenan's death, Sullivan has no choice but to be dealt with the bitter hand of fate to liberate the truth and to' rat out' the 'rat'...

In between, there's Lt. Ellerby (played by Alec Baldwin), a loud-mouth detective who thinks he knows it all and thinks he's Mr. Go-getter...I was surprised nobody shot him in the movie...clearly, he's not been in the know from the beginning...
A good twist in the movie was Dr. Madolyn (played by Vera Farmiga) who was Sullivan's girl and a professional shrink and had a side distraction with Costigan (which ultimately was the harbinger of the exposure of the whole enchilada)...I reckon she's trumps the both of them in terms of whose the better deceptor...second to only Costello who reveals at the end that he was in touch with the FBI even during his stint of crime and debauchery...the proverbial 'bigger picture' in the scheme of things... I suppose this is the movie's 'gravitas', but a little inconsistent with his character...I think, as the movie started out with Costello's monologue (you must watch it to hear it)...

If you'd pay attention, you would realise in the end, Costello's quoting "When I was your age they used to say you could become cops or criminals. What I'm saying to you is this... When your facing a loaded gun, what's the difference? " is remarkably apt...

Still, remains of the day...the plot was not something new...this was after all a re-hatch...moreover, there is nothing novel about two-face games which people indulge in these days, remarkably with 2 or 3 sides...

You must catch the finale...you will not believe who would be the ultimate equaliser to the whole charade...

I'd give this flick a 8/10...considering this one was not the an original storyline...attempt to re-hatch was definitely commendable.

Check it out...