After watching both films and reflecting on their qualities my vote for the winner of this battle of the remakes is......INFERNAL AFFAIRS
It was a tough fight, but in the end the Hong Kong film's strategic mastery of genuine suspense gave it the edge over Scorsese's butch and brutal mobster movie.
Differences That Mattered
So that's it for this battle. I am still hammering out where I want to go next. Perhaps put Spencer Tracy up against Steve Martin in a little who was the best Father of the Bride... or should we stick with Wahlberg beating up bad guys and tryout the battle of the Italian Jobs.
Stay tuned to find out.
Differences That Mattered
- The bad moles in each film had very different internal struggles. Lau's character had to decide which side he really wanted to be on: the good guy's or the bad. Damon's character had to deal with going against his father figure...but his actions always seemed pretty self-interested. He was bad to the core, but not in a good way. I preferred Lau's struggle with good vs. evil more because it went deeper into his psyche than just a guy who has to screw over anyone to get what he wants.
- Guns, explosion, death, gore... yes so many people live for that crap but look at what Infernal Affairs was able to create with like less than 15 minutes of gunfights. The story was what was important; it didn't need shock value to make it great-- it just was great.
- The ending. I really should just leave it at that. Infernal Affairs left the door open for two successful sequels, while still wrapping up the lose ends of the first movie. After The Departed I am left with questions-- questions that I don't feel I was prepared to answer for myself.
- Okay one small victory to The Departed... I thoroughly enjoyed that they took all the little fragments of the female characters in Infernal Affairs and combined them together into Farmiga's character. The love triangle added to that serendipitous feeling that engulfed the events of the movie and gave The Departed the one thing I felt was really lacking in Infernal Affairs-- at least one full female character.
So that's it for this battle. I am still hammering out where I want to go next. Perhaps put Spencer Tracy up against Steve Martin in a little who was the best Father of the Bride... or should we stick with Wahlberg beating up bad guys and tryout the battle of the Italian Jobs.
Stay tuned to find out.
I have to admit, this is a cool topic to blog about. I would have never thought about it myself. I was however a tad suprised to see that the Infernal Affairs won. I don't know, maybe I am a tad biased because Matt Damon is the finest thing walking. Then again maybe I am stuck in the midset that American Films are superior. I liked the Departed a lot and you say the movie I did not see was better. I might have to watch it. I'll let you know if I agree.
ReplyDeleteAnd I would definitely like to see the Father of the Bride battle. Steve Martin is hilarious in a fatherly kind of way.
I would like to thank you for writing about "Infernal Affairs". I loved "The Departed," and never knew it was a remake! I will definitly check out the original to see if I agree with you. I would like to comment on your feelings on the ending of "The Departed." You mentioned that you were "left with questions-- questions that I don't feel I was prepared to answer for myself."
ReplyDeleteAs a Scorcese fan, I feel like he intentionally ends his movies this way to allow you to play the sequels out in your imagination. I may be wrong, but I don't think he has ever made a sequel to any of his movies.
Regardless, you've written a great review, I think you may have a future in the field.