Beginning with an immediate lob into both cheese and action, I was caught off guard and genuinely wondered whether I was watching the same movie as everyone else...because I really wasn't liking the 80s commercial-type editing and the horrific use of music, but despite these two aspects not necessarily getting any better, the movie does somehow become an engaging crime mystery.
Even though Martin Scorsese 'borrowed' way too much from this film, to the point where it's an almost identical story, I still think The Departed was a much better movie, and that's because that propelled everything that was wrong with this version. This one was incredibly rushed, giving almost no time to build characters. This one had lots of music but it was just terrible and took me away from the emotion at points. Infernal Affairs also had a very on-the-nose screenplay that almost felt like a first draft. Scorsese corrected all these things in his version with a longer run-time, a more patient pace, better use of music, a more realistic script and a terrific casting choice of Jack Nicholson!
There's a few parts I preferred about Infernal Affairs, but the majority of my preference leans towards The Departed. Great film though and very different to Scorsese's picture anyway, purposely feeling more like a cheesy b-movie action flick. I guess I liked it.
Review by DeletedBlockedParent2019-03-16T21:29:39Z
Beginning with an immediate lob into both cheese and action, I was caught off guard and genuinely wondered whether I was watching the same movie as everyone else...because I really wasn't liking the 80s commercial-type editing and the horrific use of music, but despite these two aspects not necessarily getting any better, the movie does somehow become an engaging crime mystery.
Even though Martin Scorsese 'borrowed' way too much from this film, to the point where it's an almost identical story, I still think The Departed was a much better movie, and that's because that propelled everything that was wrong with this version. This one was incredibly rushed, giving almost no time to build characters. This one had lots of music but it was just terrible and took me away from the emotion at points. Infernal Affairs also had a very on-the-nose screenplay that almost felt like a first draft. Scorsese corrected all these things in his version with a longer run-time, a more patient pace, better use of music, a more realistic script and a terrific casting choice of Jack Nicholson!
There's a few parts I preferred about Infernal Affairs, but the majority of my preference leans towards The Departed. Great film though and very different to Scorsese's picture anyway, purposely feeling more like a cheesy b-movie action flick. I guess I liked it.