How many people really watched Infernal Affairs? I think IA was a LOT easier to follow than this. This was a lot more fast paced moving and I guess American humor slows it down, so the plot seems more rushed.
IA was a low budget movie that came out pretty damn well, but Scorcesse has awesome directing skills that does make a movie like this shine, especially for American audiences,.
Originally posted by: FreshPrince
just came back....Infernal Affairs > Departed
THe direction this movie got was terrible and the soundtrack didn't properly match the mood at all.
the only thing I got from the movie is that Di'Caprio is growing into a damn good actor. His next movie Blood Diamond looks like a great movie as well.
I don't know about that really. I mean IA has a really Asian type directing. Plots in HK movies are quite simple to understand even if they have twists.
Scorsese does a good adaptation and you have to get out of the whole HK triad and dramatic music mood. The IA music, while good, is just overly dramatic like a Korean Drama or something. Too sappy.
*SPOILER WARNING*
I don't like the ending, but I can see how the American audience would disapprove if Matt Damon walked off like Andy Lau did.
I mean sure Andy Lau got shot, but that was in IA 3... wayyyy later in the future, and in The Departed, you think of it as a "Hahhaha payback, you got pwned b!tch" whereas in IA3 is like ok... finally someone got him, but it wasn't a "pwned" death.
As for the extra guy dying (the black guy), I thought it was excessive. IA was clever in showing how the guy got shot in teh elevator, but I thought The Departed turned into Road to Perdition where everyone just gets shot and killed. 1 extra guy died in the scene, and the dramatic factor was reduced by immense amounts.
Martin Sheen's death was clever, and while they didn't need to throw in dramatic music like IA does, I think everyone in the theater was like *tear* and the silence in the fall works pretty well. However, Leo's death was not as sad as Tony Leung's. Maybe it's because IA had some neat directing tricks like the elevator door trying to close on his corpse...
Bottom line is The Departed is an excellent remake of Infernal Affairs and it suits the American audience quite well. While it excels in some areas, I think IA is slightly better (better in other ways) overall. Go watch it. The movie is great even if you've seen IA. I had some fobby friends who were biased and said they hated it, but I would give it a 85 - 90% if I were to rate it. Rotten Tomatoes has it at 93%.