Too Complex For Its Own Good

Rating: 3/10 (22 May 2017)

Plot complexity does not necessarily a good movie make. When a drama's events become so complex that they couldn't happen in real life, it loses its link to reality. First of all, we have two moles who work their way to positions of unquestionable loyalty in their respective organizations in very short periods of time. When bad things start happening, they aren't the first ones sidelined to see if the bad things stop. Incriminating conversations & texts take place on unsecured cell phones that are never wiretapped. The main villain is an FBI informant, known as such to 2-bit punks he extorts money from, but not known as such to the "cream of the crop" Boston police or State Police units. A real forensics unit would tear Colin's (Matt Damon)final story to shreds. The "real" mole Barrigan (James Dale) gets shot with his own service revolver -- which has no prints on it. The same gun manages to kill Billy and Trooper Brown before that. How did Barrigan use it and then manage to lose it? That's the only gun that does the final shooting, so it's changing hands but manages to wind up with no fingerprints. Finally, Dingam (Mark Wahlberg) takes the law into his own hands and executes Colin in the final scene. The way he insures he'll get away with it is by wearing protective booties, but not gloves. No one sees him enter or leave, hears the gun, and he doesn't leave any hair strands behind for DNA evidence. At that point Colin is still believed to be a hero and the resulting investigation would be relentless.
If you're willing to overlook all these (and more) inconsistencies, the story line is entertaining.