Good, but not as good as original.

Rating: 6/10 (17 March 2007)

Simple. Infernal Affairs(the film that this was adapted from) does a better job executing the story in 90 minutes then this does in 150. The screenwriters/adapters(which i believe Paul haggis might be involved) felt that inserting the word "f-u-c-k" about 750 times provided realism. In fact all it did was make the dialog more ridiculous. Infernal affairs stuck to its through-lines, whereas in this film the through-lines are more like short outbursts that are supposed to make you go "ohhhhh i got it now". Do not get me wrong, Jack, Leo, and Mark have exquisite performances. But Andy Lau's performance in Infernal Affairs blows Matt Damon's out of the water. The adaptation to Boston is good, the performances are good, the direction is good, but it is not great. And that is what one must look at when rating film.