excessive adaption

Rating: 4/10 (30 December 2006)

Since I saw the Hong Kong movie "Infernal Affair" first, I cannot help comparing this remade version with the original one.
"Infernal Affair" is a superbly intelligent movie. It is actually not telling a mafia story, it is about the conflict, compromise and confusion of living in somebody else's life, how people want to escape such a life but can't due to some objective and subjective motives.
If the original work is already outstanding, the point of the remaking should be showing some different perspective on those outstanding parts. Unfortunately, this time "The Departed" went exactly the opposite of that direction.
"The Departed" hasn't closely and concretely portrayed the innermost struggle of the two moles, and how arduously and awkwardly they interact with the exterior world, especially for Matt Damon's role. This is the reason why many plots and behaviors of the characters make no sense. What even worse is, the most memorable, sensational scenes are still inherited from the original movie, Scorsese barely created any improvements.
Scorsese abandoned the beauty of the original work and concentrated too much on the details of the gangsters and cops' business, which makes it a mediocre mafia film. How their tasks are conspired and operated, how their transactions are dealt, how the boss cultivates his jackal, these typical Hollywood scenarios are not supposed to be the focus of this film.
Those, who think this movie is much better than the original version, certainly don't have a deep comprehension of the culture in the Far East countries. Since Hollywood now is going through an era of running out of the neat and innovate ideas, it's only fair to introduce some great foreign language films from other regions by remaking them and earn a hell lot box office. But please at least do some homework beforehand, to thoroughly understand an artistic work from a completely different culture and background. Don't make everything too "Hollywood".