The Departed (2006, USA)

Perhaps it’s not entirely fair to compare one film so ruthlessly to another, but that was the risk Martin Scorsese ran when he remade Infernal Affairs as The Departed. In the end, they’re quite different films – where Affairs is lean and mean, a slick Hollywood-inspired Hong Kong thriller, The Departed seeks to go a bit deeper. Characters and backstory are added, and the film delves more deeply into themes of family and identity. Unfortunately, this expansion isn’t necessarily an improvement, as the structure of the original film creaks under the added weight.

Much of the fun of Affairs is its relentlessness, part of which can be found in the near-indistinguishable nature of protagonists. As the dual rats, Andy Lau and Tony Leung could probably have switched roles without losing a beat. Matt Damon and Leonardo DiCaprio don’t have this advantage – Scorsese clearly favors one of the other, and thus never quite gets the balance right. It doesn’t help that the film occasionally pulls away from both in order to concentrate on secondary characters, particularly Jack Nicholson (chewing scenery like there’s no tomorrow) as flamboyant crime boss Frank Costello.

Scorsese also shifts the weight of certain key scenes – for example, the showdown between Costello and Damon’s rat cop – and greatly changes the ending. Both alterations further push the grey areas from Affairs into more defined black-and-white territory. It would be wrong to call Affairs subtle, but the final shot of The Departed practically hits you over the head with an anvil. This is hardly Scorsese’s best work - while it was nice to see him finally get an Oscar, perhaps it should be thought of as a lifetime achievement award.