After the stunning success of 'Infernal Affairs', erm, I mean 'The Departed' at the Oscars, it looks like Hollywood is going straight into remaking another Andrew Lau/Alan Mak crime thriller, last year's Hong Kong hit Confession of Pain.
Hollywood Reporter story.
I thought Scorcese and co. made a lot of unnecessary changes in 'The Departed' which was a shame since I.A. was such a brilliant film. I haven't seen 'Confession of Pain' yet but from the reviews I've read, it doesn't quite match the quality of I.A. although there are meant to be a couple of good performances from Tony Leung Chiu-Wai and Takeshi Kaneshiro.
Synopsis of the original film and trailer here.
2 comments:
I only saw half of Infernal Affairs - but The Departed seemed to be pretty much a straight remake of it. All they did was change the location and made the gangland boss more of a sexual being - presumably in order to attract Jack Nicholson to the part...
What were the main differences?
Well, in The Departed they created a love triangle between the two men and the psychoanalyst character whereas in the original that storyline was purely to do with Tony Leung's character. Made it a little unbelievable IMHO. Also, in I.A. you could believe Tony Leung could be a mole in the gang and not be rumbled but in The Departed, all the other guys are so different and such 'movie gangsters' that you can't believe Leo DiCaprio wouldn't have been found out in a second!
The 'following' scene was changed in a way that made it less believable (the alleyway incident and CCTV) in my opinion and the ending doesn't have the same impact (I won't say any more because it would be a major spoiler!).
Differences aside, I still enjoyed Departed. I.A. is definitely worth watching in full if you get a chance.
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