A Dalliance in Nihilism

Rating: 1/10 (1 June 2007)

Good movies nowadays are few and far between. "The Departed" is not one of them.
I am not a film aficionado. However, I enjoy a good movie. What's a "good" movie? One that has a point or, at least, an intellectually honest theme, but is, at the same time, entertaining. The plot, characterization and dialogue complement the theme and move the action seamlessly to a dramatic climax. The craft of movie-making (acting, directing, lighting, music, set, etc.) serves the theme and makes a good movie great or mediocre, entertaining or disappointing.
The theme of "The Departed" is pointless nihilism: anything goes. As a result, the movie is bad and unentertaining. There are no admirable characters, only amoral jerks, some of whom happen to labor as laughably angry, incompetent policemen, and others who revel as nauseatingly satisfied, bloodthirsty hoodlums. If there are any despicable characters at all in the world they are the rats who work undercover for either the police or the hoodlums. And, if there is a hero, it is the illegitimate vigilante who is able to do with one bullet what the legitimate authorities cannot do with armies of officers and the latest electronic wizardry.
Is the theme of this movie in any way relevant to the real world, or the world as we wish it to be? Is it true to anything? Why do we watch movies like this? Or, worse, why do we pay to see them? The graphic executions and tawdry sex scenes were worse than gratuitous: they were snide and commercial. I paid to see this movie because I didn't do my homework.