Scorsese's Touches Give Us A Very Different Take On Infernal Affairs

Rating: 10/10 (9 October 2006)

The first thing people need to realize about The Departed is that it is in fact a remake of a Hong Kong film called Infernal Affairs. Specifically the first film of a trilogy. The basic plot involves a mole in the police department and a mole in a gang. Both guys end up discovering that the other exists and that his job is now to flush him out before getting caught himself. An interesting premise that both films bring to the big screen in their own way. With that out of the way, let's look at Scorsese's latest.
Wow. Just wow. This film was simply incredible. I watched Infernal Affairs a few days before The premier of The Departed just to refresh my memory and all I can say is that the naysayers really have nothing bad to say about Scorsese's latest film IMO. He adds so many of his typical yet effective touches that The Departed in essence becomes it's own film. It really is Scorsese's if you ignore the fact that the basic plot elements were ripped from a Hong Kong film. This is a remake I am very glad Hollywood decided to do because it differs from the original so much that it effectively keeps the great elements of the original and mixes in more than a few new colors to give audiences an effectively brand new take on a 4 year old plot.
The original Infernal Affairs had a sort of dark crime/noir Michael Mann feel. Scorsese was smart and changed things up quite a bit by adding a lot of Boston flavor to the story. The A-list cast doesn't hurt either. The humorous one liners in The Departed really make this an American film. It differs so much from the original that it stands well on it's own two feet and the scenes that were shot for shot recreations from the original (like Damon pretending to be a lawyer or DiCaprio showing one of his buddies how to correctly spell a word) end up feeling more like homages rather than plagiarism.
Moving off of comparing these two films lets look at that A-list cast. This is the first time in a long time that ALL of the A-list actors signed here live up to their reputations. Jack Nicholson was terrific in this film. It's been a long time since he's played a bad guy but The Departed is proof that he still has it. Leonardo DiCaprio proves that he is a great actor in this film and if you still think he's nothing more than a pretty face after his performance here I don't know what movie you went to. Mark Whalberg reprises his bad mouthed, slick talking persona he introduced to us in The Italian Job and polished to perfection in Four Brothers. I also also impressed with Vera Farmiga who I was introduced to in Running Scared. Matt Damon, Alec Baldwin and Martin Sheen also do very well in their respective roles. Then again it'd be hard for them to mess up with such great lines written for them.
I don't know who wrote these one liners but please promote the man or woman responsible for the dialogue in this film. The best way to describe the exchanges between characters here is "honest." The dialogue sounded genuine and real in that you know they'd be making fun of each other's Mamas in real life.
Scorsese hit the nail on the head with the score and the direction. He utilized his freeze frame action shots during a shootout that I really like and did a great job of making New York look like Boston. However certain scenes did feel a bit campy at times. When Sheen's character is killed I thought the manner in which he dropped in front of DiCaprio and the way the blood splattered was a bit cartoonish and campy. I think everyone kind of wanted to laugh but was too shocked from the scene preceding it which depicted Sheen falling through the air.
Aside from a few confusing (as in I didn't understand if Scorsese wanted me to be shocked or laugh) moments I was impressed. THIS is how to properly do a remake. Scorsese did alter the ending but I didn't mind too much. With the large differences in culture between America and China I felt that the ending to The Departed fit just as well to this version of the story as the original ending to Infernal Affairs fit the Hong Kong version. An excellent film and by far the best film I've seen this year. 10/10. I'd give it a 9.5/10 for being a remake but because it differs from the original so much and IMDb don't give out half points I'm rounding up here. Go watch this film as you will not be disappointed and then go rent the original and see how similar yet different the two are. Kudos to Scorsese for teaching Hollywood a thing or two about remakes and for making The Departed his own.