When American remakes of Asian cinema go RIGHT for a change.

Rating: 9/10 (24 October 2006)

It's not pretty, it's not cheery, but it's gritty, intense, and provocative. It's more than just another crime film. It's tightly wound characters fit perfectly into the tightly wound story about a Massachusetts State Trooper(or a statey if you will) with family ties to crime gone undercover gangster and a clean-cut gangster who has excelled in infiltrating the state police as a mole. As they both become aware of each other, they start a race for control of a situation that tests their wits, endurance, and their very souls. I was very pleased with Scorese's adaptation of Mou Gaan Dou (US: Infernal Affairs) overall. William Monahan did a fantastic job, not only in rewriting the story but in fully revising the tone of things to localize the story in Boston. The original played heavily on the relationship of Chinese organized crime and the police. That dynamic would have been largely lost in a literal translation of Infernal Affairs. Instead, Boston native Monahan adeptly instilled the essence of various elements of Massachusetts into the script. This is especially exciting for those of us who are from Massachusetts, but for everyone else it should create a very stable and detailed sense of setting. Scorsese did well to cast several Massachusetts-based actors as well. Not just because of their connection to the area though, don't be confused about the performance of Matt Damon, and brothers Mark and Robert Wahlberg, because they're phenomenal. Several Asian films have been remade for America in recent years, and while they've kept the exciting stories, they've often eschewed the style and depth of the originals. By setting the film in a specific American locale and then embracing the setting and drawing from it for inspiration, Scorsese and Monahan have taken a great story and remade it into a truly worthy American remake. I'm more content to watch the Asian films that these remakes are created from for the most part, but when it's done this well I can't complain. Instead of one film with a fantastic concept, we have two. I can watch Infernal Affairs and The Departed and, despite their similarity, view both as fantastic, original works.