The departed - leaves one soul-less

Rating: 7/10 (22 May 2007)

The name of the movie says it all  departed. Now who departs? The dead depart from the face of the earth. The dead die because someone wants them dead. And someone wants them dead because they want money.
The movie storyline? Trivial matter, but anyway here it goes  two men from opposite sides  cops and criminals work as spies. Leo is a good guy on the bad side and Matt is a bad guy on the good side (I didn't make any sense of that, did you?). Leo finds out what the bad guys are doing, and Matt finds out what the good guys are doing to prevent the bad guys from doing. In the end they all find out that they are something that they lost track of, and end up killing each other. Picture this scenario and make a movie out of it and win an Oscar  hats off to Mr.Martin Scorsese.
Violence through guns makes life easier for many to die. Death is made to look so simple in this movie that there is no gory, no pain. Just plain kiss of death! Who dies? Well everyone does the movie portrays the emotions of betrayal, hatred, greed and above all, the killer attitude. Among all these is the noble virtue, almost omnipresent yet unseen  sacrifice! A funny word in a gangster's world, yet it is not uncommon to find old loyalty amongst the dirty rats.
The movie totally belongs to Leonardo di Caprio and Matt Damon. I mean, you got to give to Damon  he plays the negative role well. You love to hate him throughout the movie. And you find comic relief actually in the end to see him dead..
While on the other side, Leo looks the perfect part  totally disgusted with himself, vulnerable to the "glory" that is bestowed upon him being one of the youngest gang members and having to put up with the terror in his eyes. You can see Leo give his best shot in this movie  I think he is getting outstanding with every movie that I see him in.
Yet again, Leo dies in a movie! Oh boy, I think he could teach a thing or two to the feline community (cats which supposedly have nine lives).
The script-writer of this movie (William Monahan) had it all so easy (oscar worthy script??)  all he had to do is write up a few four letter swear words and voila! The movie dialogues are ready for delivery.. There is only one dialogue that stands out and its at the beginning of the movie  "when I was your age they used to say you could become cops or criminals. What I'm saying to you is this... When you're facing a loaded gun, what's the difference?" If you look to spend quality time for a quality flick (that you won't come to terms with, anyway), you can consider this movie. But it is pure cinema, the typical gangster flick with modern facilities thrown in. but if you aren't the type who can handle gunshots at will and cant stop sweating at swearing without a pause  you better send out the SOS  Save Our Souls. Because when you have departed from the movie hall, you won't have a soul left. Start your prayers already Action is thy name death? Then, this movie is thy address for two hours full of it. Martin Scorsese scores with ease in the gangster brand of movies; his cup pa tea for a while now  Goodfellas was perhaps the best of his creations.
All said and done - as they say, the departed go to heaven. And truly, "The departed" did go to Oscar heaven