Thursday, February 22, 2007

The Departed – B-

As the film started, I told my life-partner lady-friend that Scorsese’s movies are always violent, but the violence is not without consequence. While that held mostly true here, the violence ultimately seemed pointless. Which, of course, is what a world of pure evil would quickly degenerate to—not just an eye for an eye, but a life for an eye (see Genesis 4:23-24). Perhaps the film would have been stronger if we had seen more of the inner struggles of Costigan (DiCaprio) and Sullivan (Damon) (and perhaps even Dignam (Wahlberg) and/or Queenan (Sheen)). As it is, we're given (at best) only hints about inner struggles.

One reviewer claims the film is a commentary on who we truly are versus who we appear to be. This may not be far off, particularly given the not so subtle digs at the Roman Catholic Church throughout the film.

Style-wise, it’s great. Depth-wise though, not so much.

2 comments:

M Griffin said...

Mr. Ginger and Bobby you are both much deeper in your movie watching than I am. As the a very surface and casual movie watcher I enjoyed the movie very much. I found it intense with all the violence but for some strange reason still enjoyed it.

M Griffin said...

Oh one more thing Mr. Ginger, my husband would like to know if you take request on movies to rate.