Review : The Departed

The Departed : An undercover state cop who has infiltrated an Irish gang and a mole in the police force working for the same mob race to track down and identify each other before being exposed to the enemy, after both sides realize their outfit has a snitch.

Gangster films. Organised crime, disorganised crime - there's something therapeutic about cheering on the bad guys. Since gangster films came into their own in the 1920's, the criminal underworld - from Moscow to Hollywood, Hong Kong to Brighton - has exerted a fascination for filmmakers.

I love Gangster film. I love the gangster genre as a whole, I find crime drama dynamic and interesting above anything else. Its the one thing I have a real connection with. However gangster films only really work if the story is any good and all depends on what the story is like. Gangster films like "Goodfellas" and "Pulp Fiction" they are films which create visions in the mind which inspire the imagination and the films which stick out as having a lot of memories of because they are beautifully executed films.

In the case of the Departed, I wasn't sure what to expect going into this and I'm sure the average viewer really will when they watch it. It's quite a strange turn of events in how the story progresses and it has everything in it in which you'd expect a Gangster film to represent, a cross turn of events, an undercover cop, two rivals and a good wide ranged cast of characters for the actors to play a broad range of parts. 

What I love about gangster films is that its made so clearly what type of territory you're going into. This is a film which is not for children, it's not a family film, it's an 18 and in some cases the film limits itself for holding back the age limit because of the content it posses. If you're under the age of 18 you are not permitted to watch this because it has content in it which is beyond the understanding of anyone below the age of 18, it's for adults only! It's not like Frozen which is a family film you can all go and see together and have the grand parents take them again and therefore the more bums on seats the more box office money you make. 18's I think make the least amount of money because of the limitations in engaging with a wide range of people.

However with it being not for children many an adult audience at the time would probably have wanted to watch 'The Departed' due to the incredibly heavy promotion it had during TV shows popular which were popular with children. It's far too graphically violent for those under the age of 17, including images of heads being shot and spurting blood, limbs being broken, bodies sprawled and bloody, and expressions of pain by victims of shootings and beatings, all the graphic violence you'd expect to find in a normal gangster film. 

Sexual imagery includes a scene in a porn theatre that cuts to the screen and frequent sexual slang. Characters smoke in almost every scene, and drink occasionally, and Billy 'Leonardo DiCaprio' takes pills throughout the film, indicating his increasing paranoia and depression which is all part of his character.

Overall, this film is just one of many typical and yet imaginatively brilliant films which are creative in their own way in terms of how they tell the story, through violence, through brute force or through simple common fowl language and immature gestures. 8/10

Next Review : Before I go to sleep.