Remade as: The Departed
Like Martin Scorsese’s Bahhston-ized version, Infernal Affairs tells a complicated story of rival moles – an undercover cop posing as a mobster, and a gangster who’s infiltrated the police force – trying to ferret each other out.
For all the visual flair and narrative drive Scorsese brought to the story, it’s clear from watching Infernal Affairs that he borrowed much of it, down to visual composition of certain scenes, from the original Hong Kong version co-directed by Andrew Lau and Alan Mak. And even if you admire Leonardo DiCaprio and Matt Damon in the U.S. version, you can still appreciate the charisma and haunted face of Tony Leung Chiu-Wai (as the secret cop) and the panache of Andy Lau Tak-Wah (as the secret crook). Unlike The Departed, the bloody ending of Infernal Affairs didn’t stop this enormously popular film from spawning a prequel and a sequel.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o4U1GZcMmn0]