How did the film The Departed end? (Spoilers, obviously)

November 10, 2006 8:54 PM

How does The Departed end? **** SPOILERS INSIDE ****

I was forced to leave the theater just before the end of The Departed, and I don't want to have to buy another ticket to catch the last few minutes. Please tell me what happens.

****SPOILER WARNING****

I saw the big shootout at the warehouse. I saw Jack Nicholson get killed. What happened after that?

Thank you very much!

posted by i love cheese to media & arts (14 comments total)

The Departed spoiler
posted by bob sarabia at 8:56 PM on November 10, 2006

Thanks Bob! I am constantly amazed by the wonders that are kept in this series of tubes.
A whole friggin site devoted to spoilers, wow.
posted by i love cheese at 9:04 PM on November 10, 2006

Yeah. I don't actually see movies anymore, I just read the plot online. Which is pretty sad, I guess.
posted by bob sarabia at 9:08 PM on November 10, 2006

short version: everybody dies except the chick and mark wahlberg.
posted by amethysts at 9:56 PM on November 10, 2006

It's amazing about the ending really - as great as it was (and it was certainly the best ending of any 'Hollywood' film I've seen in maybe years), the ending of the original film from which The Departed is adapted (Infernal Affairs) is even better. Esp. the last line.

Marky Mark is amazing in this BTW. I want to see it again right away if only to re-watch that performance. Not much screen time, but considering who else is onscreen in those scenes, the fact that you're riveted to Wahlberg is really saying something.
posted by stinkycheese at 10:30 PM on November 10, 2006

Re. the spolier link.

I would disagree with some of the more speculative comments on that site, as exhaustively comprehensive as the spoiler is. To wit, at the end of Infernal Affairs, it's clear that the Cop-Who-Is-Actually-A-Crook character (Lau Kin Ming, played by Andy Lau) has now become a sort of super criminal - in that he has not only elminated his own boss, the Crime Boss character (Hon Sam, played by Eric Tsang) , but he himself is also a high-ranking and highly regarded officer in the police force, and exactly the person who would best be in a position to assist his criminal counterparts, were he so inclined. He has the best of both worlds now, as it were.

One common complaint about The Departed is that its resolution is confusing; you're not necessarily sure what is happening or why. At no point however, did I consider that the Cop-Who-Is-Actually-A-Crook character (Colin Sullivan, played by Matt Damon) was actually going to cease being a criminal. Yet that seems to be precisely what the spoiler is suggesting:

Blam. Sullivan shoots Barrigan through the head. Sullivan would rather have his police life than live on the run, it seems.

I just don't see how that follows. It's like saying "Sullivan would rather be free than in prison". Well, duh. Barrigan is a potential loose-end, hence his execution - he knew who Sullivan really was. But how does it follow from that that Sullivan'll now live his life on the straight and narrow?
posted by stinkycheese at 10:57 PM on November 10, 2006

I was always under the impression that Lau's character had decided to be good, in the end--a combination of the "how many must die that Caesar be king?" bit from Tsang's character and his author-wife speculating on the morality of her book's protagonist (by which she meant Lau)
posted by hototogisu at 10:59 PM on November 10, 2006

I always thought it was very clear at the end of Infernal Affairs that Lau's character had decided to leave his life of crime behind him, now that his secrets had been buried.
posted by falconred at 1:19 AM on November 11, 2006

*shocked* Really? Well, maybe it was just me.
posted by stinkycheese at 4:54 AM on November 11, 2006

MoviePooper's spoiler.
posted by Steven C. Den Beste at 8:12 AM on November 11, 2006

But was the baby Matt Damon's or Leonardo DiCaprio's???
posted by footnote at 10:11 AM on November 11, 2006

Now that the question's been answered, more important question: What was in that damned envelope Leonardo DiCaprio gave to the psychologist?
posted by kingjoeshmoe at 11:18 AM on November 11, 2006

I figured it was the info Sullivan erased about Costigan being an undercover guy, details about Sullivan being a rat, and a note to give it all to Dignan if needed.

Also, I thought it was kind of clear Sullivan was impotent, at least once, and that another time when asked about sex he said he was having a lot of it which seemed like a lie. So the baby seemed likely Costigan's. Moviepooper disagreed with me though.
posted by GaelFC at 11:50 AM on November 11, 2006

What was in that damned envelope Leonardo DiCaprio gave to the psychologist?

The tapes of Costello's recorded conversations were in the envelope, the ones that Costello's lawyer gave to Costigan. This was clearer in the original movie (Infernal Affairs).
posted by hooray at 3:52 AM on November 12, 2006