Review of Infernal Affairs (2002) by Nathan S — 09 Mar 2010

Martin Scorsese's masterful crime drama The Departed was actually a remake of this 2002 Hong Kong film. When you watch this film it is apparent that the original itself has a lot of great tension, character development, and action.

....and yet the whole time the film simply made me wish I was watching The Departed again. It's usually the reverse where the remake will make me yearn for the orignal, but Scorsese took the good elements of this film and filmed them better, executed them better, paced them better, and made a better film that is easily its own picture as well.

Andy Lau and Tony Lueng are great in the film as the cop and the mobster on the reverse sides of their respective ethos, and the story is obviously highly original and really smart. The film is really really good.

.....but it was crafted into a much better picture when translated to American film.