Reviews

I was really looking forward to this remake. The original and it's sequel (more accurately, the prequel) were two of the best Asian movies ever made.

Without making any comparisons to the original cast, I think Leonardo DiCaprio did a good job in this movie. Everyone else was their usual - Matt Damon's performance was a tad too Talented Mr Ripley for me, Mark Wahlberg was just his usual Four Brothers self. There was nothing notable about Alec Baldwin or Martin Sheen's characters.

Oh and Jack Nicholson can't be taken seriously acting that way. Really.

I did expect that changes would be made to the original, after all, Infernal Affairs contained too many Asian nuances to be universal, but I liked that what really happened was implied rather than shown. I feel that script was just too literal, and everything had to be played out. You hardly have the chance to feel the anguish anyone goes through, because they're yelling it all the time.

I guess the biggest problem I have with the The Departed is that everyone was a one-sided character. Besides maybe Leo Dicaprio's Billy. And that's just not how life is. The original movie really took the trouble to show that part of the characters. No one was truly honest, and no one was truly evil. And that's where The Departed failed.

Honestly I did expect a lot more from The Departed. Lots of big names were attached to it, and with a director like Martin Scorsese, you really expect to have your socks knocked off. I expected Cape Fear, or Goodfellas.

But alas. It was just an OK movie for me. I'll watch the original versions over this any day.

I really enjoyed this movie, from the first 5 minutes. It's an edgey, not very dialogue driven action movie, but the cast really did a great job. This isn't to say the movie was just one shootout after another.

It isn't a mainstream "A Better Tomorrow" type Hong Kong gangster movie, and doesn't pretend to be. It's dark, the characters don't verbalise what they want to do or are thinking, but the nuances are all there. But it's befitting of the setting - they're Asian, male hired hands. It's not realistic expect them to be all philosophical and willing to wear their hearts out on their sleeve.

I also liked the movie because it cast some of the finest Hong Kong actors who were really working as a team, and no one was really glamourised to be the hero. Anthony Wong epitomises cool as his character Curtis (in Chinese his character's name was really "Ghost") with more grunts than dialogue.

Francis Ng does his edgey best, as does Roy Cheung. All three went on to make Infernal Affairs, one of my all-time favourites.

This is by far one of the best Hong Kong movies around. Usually Hong Kong (well, Asian) gangster/triad movies are about the fights and shootouts.

This movie gets to the guts of the triad members / cops who live day to day in their worlds. It's really a sophisticated script, and it's thoughtfully shot.

Fascinating too are Tony Leung Chiu-Wai, Anthony Wong and Andy Lau. These 3 veteran HK actors are totally at their best. Tony Leung always delivers his characters with such depth and charisma. He's delivers a completely believable, yet not wallowing in self pity performance that's just becoming so typically a Tony Leung character.

Anthony Wong, is well, his usual. He's always the cool, in control dude in the movie. He doesn't overdo his lines, and performs with such restraint and control that's really admirable.

Andy Lau turned in a commendable performance too, but he should stick to acting and stop his infernal singing.

I can't wait to see the prequel, Infernal Affairs 2, and the sequel - Infernal Affairs 3 (though I can't imagine what there is left for a sequel).