The Departed - The Mini-Review

4 Academy awards in 2006, best picture, best director, best editing and best adapted screenplay. That might be enough to convince you that The Departed is a great movie, but I'll still get into some of the details, if you're not the type that is easily convinced.

Some people felt that The Departed was not Martin Scorsese's best film, myself included. I don't mean to say that this is not a good film, it is. I personally liked the Aviator more than this one but hey, that's not what we're talking about here.

The Departed opens with the introduction of Colin Sullivan, a young man of impressionable age. He's taken under the slimy wing of Frank Costello, an Irish mobster in Southie, Boston. The movie jumps to the police academy where we see Sulivan, who apparently has chosen to enter law enforcement, sort of. We are also introduced to Billy Costigan, another promising cadet, but Costigan has a questionable past. Because of this past (Costigan has family associated with organized crime), he is pulled out of the academy before graduation and convinced to become an undercover agent, intended for infiltrating Frank Costello's gang. After spending a time in prison on a fake assault charge, he has the proper history to make a believable hood. Meanwhile, Sullivan is promoted to the Special Investigations Unit created to take Costello's gang down. SIU has a problem though, it looks like they have a mole in their unit, placed there by Costello. How do they know this? Sullivan is that man and now he has informed Costello that his gang has a mole as well. Both men know they must reveal the other, but they have now idea how to do it.

Just like Infernal Affairs (the Hong Kong original this movie was based on), revealing too much of the plot of The Departed would be a diservice to those who have not seen it. There are a good number of changes between the two, which I will cover later. Some are for the good, while others might be for the worse. But, this is a superb film. It seems to me that there is some dislike for DeCaprio (Billy Costigan) out there but I don't see why. He is always a strong actor and he is very good here. Showing the stress that the life his character is living is convincing. Costigan believes hes a good man and knows he deserves to be living the sort of life that his counterpart (Sullivan) is living. All he wants is to be able to live out in the open, to be real after years of pretending.

As you can expect, Nicolson does a fine job as Frank Costello, mob boss. Over-the-top? The argument could probably be made here, depending on how much you like Nicolson, you might think there's a little overacting going on here. But I didn't mind, he's Jack.

The Departed deserves it's Oscars, if only because Scorsese has been robbed in other years. That idea aside, filled with amazing actors, a great plot (thanks to the writers of Infernal Affairs) and a well chosen soundtrack (a Scorsese staple), put The Departed on your shortlist of movies to see if you haven't already.

Infernal Affairs - The Mini-Review

Now this is a good way to start. The movies on my to-do-list are all well liked and while I had never heard of this film before this experiment, I hope the rest are just as good.

Infernal Affairs begins with Triad Crime Boss plotting the futures of a group of his young soldiers. They are meant to enter the police force and work in his interest, as moles. Two of these young men manage to excel at the academy. While Lau Kin-Ming is on the fast track, Chan Wing-Yan is expelled for reasons unknown.

As it turns out Yan has been selected by internal affairs for a deep undercover mission, inside the Triads. It will be his job to get the information the cops need to bring down the Triad. Yan begins losing himself to the life of crime, day by day, while his counterpart Ming is put in charge of a task force assembled to bring down the gang. What results is a cat and mouse game almost too complex to describe here, without risking spoiling some of the major plot points. Let's just say it gets complicated, but I mean that in a good way.

As an American filmgoer we are accustomed to a certain level of quality that other movie markets just can't seem to match, whatever the reasons. That is not the case here. Apparently Infernal Affairs was filled with top Hong Kong actors and it shows by the level of acting that is on display here. The performances could be considered somewhat restrained compared to our actors but that might have been a directing choice. I don't have enough context, in terms of seeing other films these actors have appeared in, to be a good judge of that.

Don't let the fact that the characters are not speaking English, keep you from watching this movie, it is highly recommended. If you're a person who already enjoys a foreign film every so often, then enjoy. I'm just sorry I missed this one when it came out.

Infernal Affairs vs The Departed - The Introductions

He we go with the first set of movies. For your edification I will include a link to IMDB, but I'll also write a few lines about what I know going in. Also, I'll include a trailer for you.
Infernal Affairs (2002) - A Story about two motivated young men working on opposite sides of the law, but they come from the same past. Considered to be one of the best products of Hong Kong cinema in recent times, this is a modern classic in it's homeland.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0338564/

The Departed (2006) - Filled with an all-star cast and directed by an American directing legend, "The Departed" won an oscar for Scorsese in 2006. An American retelling of the 2002 film "Infernal Affairs", this time set in Boston Massachusetts.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0407887/

OK, so what's the plan?

Here's the deal: I want to watch six movies and their remakes. The idea is to make some kind of sense of the Hollywood remake concept. Is it evil or something else?

I'll be blogging my observations as I go. A total of 12 movies, not so tough, right? What was tough was picking them. At first I thought I would just pick six of the best known movie remakes. However, that didn't seem like it would do me much good. I have seen at least one of the movies (either the original or the remake) in most of the popular remakes. So, I didn't see how I could be enlightened by movies I'm already familiar with.

I thought I had the answer by making my list out of half foreign films and half domestic films. Again, there were too many cases where I was familiar with one or both of the movies. So, after much consideration and regretful subtractions, I have come up with my list of films to watch. I think I've come up with my best possible list. I put above all else, the rule that says I can't have seen either film. What results is a pretty odd list of films, not the best movies ever made but none of them are total stinkers either.

Oh, and just for fun I'm going to watch horror movies for the last week of October.

The list is as follows, but the order could change. I'll be posting the movie I'll be watching before I watch it, and some brief info as well.

1. Infernal Affairs (2002) - The Departed (2006)

2. Rear Window (1954) - Disturbia (2007)

3. Mr. Deeds Goes to Town (1936) - Mr. Deeds (2002)

4. Sabrina (1954) - Sabrina (1995)

5. The In-Laws (1979) - The In-Laws (2003)

6. The Amityville Horror (1979) - The Amityville Horror (2005)

Rear Window (1954) - Disturbia (2007)