10 Movies That Secretly Revealed Their Endings
7. The Departed - X Marks The Spot
It's not a bold statement to say that Martin Scorsese's 2006 Irish-Mob thriller is up there with his best. The cast is full of big hitters: Leonardo DiCaprio, Matt Damon, budget-Matt Damon (Mark Wahlberg), Jack Nicholson and Martin Sheen, all get their moment of screen time.
The central plot involves a couple of moles - one infiltrating the Mob and one infiltrating the Police Department - trying to uncover one another's identity. Spoiler alert, almost everyone dies apart from Mark Wahlberg, who despite having a fairly small role, walks away as the hero.
All this happens in the closing few moments of the film. Just as we think the protagonist (DiCaprio) has everything nicely wrapped up, BOOM! Bullet in the forehead. Damon's character isn't far from the same fate. This movie takes you for a ride, 'surprising' you at every turn - well... not if you were paying attention.
Scorsese made it clear who would die by the end of his story by having the doomed characters, marked with an 'X' at various points throughout the movie. For example, DiCaprio is shown framed by giant 'Xs' during a scene in an airport terminal. The elevator in which he is killed is also marked by a crude 'X' behind him. The same is true for every other character who dies. Scorsese's decision to include this was a homage to the 1933 gangster film Scarface.