If you want flashy, The Departed will give you flashy. It’ll give you so much more than that too. This is another movie that has a punk attitude to it, complete with Dropkick Murphys music in the soundtrack. It takes place in the same city as The Boondock Saints, Boston, so it naturally features Irish mob figures like Jack Nicholson’s boss man, Frank Costello, and Irish-sounding cops, among whom is the scene-stealing Mark Wahlberg.
This movie is perhaps most notable for its weaving plot, in which the police and mobsters both have someone on the inside of each other’s organization, so it calls to mind themes of doubles and such. Seeing Matt Damon and Leonardo DiCaprio playing characters who are playing characters is as enjoyable as it sounds. It may be less influenced by Irish persuasions that by the spirit of Boston, but really, that’s such a fine distinction I’m not sure it’s even visible when your vision has been blurred by green beverage.
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