Open on — the underbelly of a seedy city entwined with organized crime. The police force’s desperate continued attempts to root it out. On one side, a mole in the police force, foiling their plans at every turn, struggling with his own identity and morality. On the other, an undercover cop who sacrifices everything to bring down the mob. The two play a deadly game of cat and mouse that binds them together. This setup serves as the premise for both INFERNAL AFFAIRS and its Hollywood remake, THE DEPARTED (or if you’re from Beantown — The Depahted), and while the two films share an identical story outline, the execution of each is vastly different!
INFERNAL AFFAIRS is 2002 Hong Kong action-thriller, starring Andy Lau and Tony Leung, co-directed by Andrew Lau and Alan Mak. In the film, two deep cover operations are hatching around the same time with Lau Kin-ming, a young gangster who is sent to the police academy by his triad boss Hon Sam, and at the other end of the spectrum, Superintendent Wong Chi-shing, has expelled Chan Wing-yan, a young police cadet, from the very same police academy. Fast forward 10 years later, Lau has risen through the ranks and is now working under the superintendent to bring down Hon Sam, and Chan is a trusted soldier embedded within Hon Sam’s crew.
THE DEPARTED is a 2006 American remake starring Leonardo DiCaprio and Matt Damon with the legendary Martin Scorsese in the director’s chair. In this re-telling, Hong Kong is replaced with Boston and the triad is swapped out with the Irish mafia. Damon plays Colin Sullivan who becomes a mole in the police force for mob boss Frank Costello and DiCaprio plays Billy Costigan Jr, the honest cop who goes undercover in Costello’s infamous crew. The film has multiple scenes that are replicated beat for beat, including Sullivan tailing Costigan, and the pair’s final rooftop confrontation.
That being said, there are also many changes THE DEPARTED makes from its source material including a love triangle and a different ending! So which iteration of the story comes out on top? Will it be INFERNAL AFFAIRS with its frenetic energy and tight pacing or THE DEPARTED with its more expansive scope and trademark style of an acclaimed director at the height of his powers? Much like the dual protagonists of the films, to find out we must… FACE OFF!
This episode of Face Off is written by Paul Cooper, narrated by Shawn Knippelberg, and edited by Stephen White. Check out previous episodes below and let us know in the comments which film you prefer – Infernal Affairs or The Departed!