- I knew that The Departed was based off of this. I did not know that The Departed was this. Sure, some scenes are out of order and Infernal Affairs is a lot shorter and the semi-hot love interest in The Departed has around 49 seconds of screen time in Infernal Affairs, but still.
- It is both good and bad that John Woo did not make this film. It's good because John Woo has the directorial sleight-of-hand of, well, someone with very little sleight-of-hand. All of his tropes and themes are lavished on with the delicacy of a retarded kid wielding a meat cleaver. This film isn't exactly going to be winning awards for subtlety, but let's just say that it didn't have any flying motorcycles or white doves. But it's bad that John Woo did not direct it because the action scenes totally suck. And J.W.'s action scenes do anything but totally suck.
- All Asian people look alike. It took me 25 minutes to nail down who was who, and even then, some random stereotypical Asian face would show up out of the blue and completely throw me off of my game. Since I knew the story cold thanks to the 28 times I've seen The Departed, this was less of an issue. But still annoying.
- They have fucking bagpipes at cops' funerals in Hong Kong?
- Music, music, music. Both the score and the soundtrack rocked. I mean, I wasn't dancing, but they fit the film really well. What I suppose is the climax -- when the dude who was played by Martin Sheen gets thrown off the building and lands near the dude who was played by Leonardo DiCaprio -- has just an amazing montage-y Wall of Sound thing going on. It's almost dreamlike, and it works excellently.
- In the end, this was awesome. It lacked Alec Baldwin's politically incorrect hilarity, DiCaprio's utter badassness, and Jack Nicholson's entertaining venture into the Boston underworld. It didn't have a constant loop of "Shipping Up To Boston." And it obviously was bereft of Scorseseisms. But it has a great story, a creative director, and tons of suspense -- even though I already knew exactly what was going to happen. In every scene. Definitely worth seeing.
Plus, it's a Hong King flick without
those dreaded dubs. What more can you ask for?
