Delayed Reaction: Infernal Affairs

The Pitch: It's The Departed, only it's a Honk Kong movie that was made before The Departed, so I guess, really, I should say, The Departed is an American Infernal Affairs.

Two moles - one working as a cop for a mob boss, one working for the mob boss who is really a cop - compete to reveal the other's identity first.

I try to not be an ugly American. An easy way to avoid that title when talking about films is to agree that the original movie is better than the American remake. It's only fair. The original deserves bonus points for being first, and Hollywood tends to remake a foreign film because it is good to begin with. In the case of Infernal Affairs, for years I've heard people talk about how it was better than Scorsese's The Departed, so I was ready to fully embrace this as the superior movie.

...I guess I'm an ugly American. For me, it's no question that The Departed is the better movie. I should admit a number of biases though. I saw The Departed first, so it has my "first movie" bias. I'm fairly "in the bag" for Scorsese in general. I know the stars of The Departed better and can appreciate the nuances of performances in my own language better. I'm also just plain conditioned by the American style of filmmaking.

All that said, Infernal Affairs felt really cheesy. The score was intrusive and generic. The editing was scatter shot in a way that reminded me of cheap American crime yarns that I'd catch at 2 A.M. on HBO a dozen years ago. None of the female characters made an impression. I'm genuinely surprised that this movie is so highly esteemed. It's the kernel of a great idea that needed some polish. The way that deaths were accompanied by black and white flashbacks of the characters from earlier in the movie was superfluous. In fact, a lot of the reliance on flashback reminders felt like it was talking down to the audience.

That's not to say I hated the movie. It's nearly an hour shorter than The Departed. I appreciated how lean the storytelling was. The basic story is dynamite. I like the leads. I can see why people prefer the increased focus on them as opposed to how The Departed feels beholden to give Jack Nicholson more screen time. In fact, I can see how a lot of things that I liked or disliked are a matter of personal taste.

Personally, I think The Departed uses the extra run time to establish the characters more and better. I understand Matt Damon and Leonardo DiCaprio's motivations much, much more. While it is annoying that The Departed combines all the female characters into a single character, it allows that one female character to have actual depth and importance to the story.

I'm happy I finally saw this. It's fun to compare and contrast the choices made by the different filmmakers. I appreciated the efficiency of the storytelling. Even though I think The Departed is better, that doesn't mean I think this is bad.

Verdict: Weakly Recommend