Leonardo DiCaprio, Matt Damon, Mark Wahlberg, Jack Nicholson
Directed by Martin Scorcese

In this Hollywood remake of Hong Kong's wildly popular film Infernal Affairs, Martin Scorcese has assembled a stellar cast with phenomonal results that does justice to the original. Transplanted from the streets of Hong Kong to the Irish neighborhoods of Massachusetts the story of The Departed is an intricately woven tale of two cops, one undercover inside organized crime, the other a mole within law enforcement itself. When their paths cross, the line between good and evil, right and wrong becomes blurred. Each is faced with reconciling their true identities with the life they have been living.

The similarities between The Departed and Infernal Affairs are unmistakable, not only of major plot points but all the way down to the smallest details. As they say, the greatest form of flattery is mimicry. Whereas the original was a dramatic sort of take on such heavyweight subject matter, The Departed decided to take a more raw and violent approach. Leonardo DiCaprio finally redeems himself from Titanic with an Oscar-worthy performance as William Costigan, undercover in a mission so secret only two people on Earth know his true identity. Likewise, Matt Damon's portrayal of Colin Sullivan proves a faithful reproduction of Andy Lau's cocky detective in the original and Mark Wahlberg is excellent as a spontaneous and explosive Captain Dignam.

My single gripe about this film is with Jack Nicholson's performance as Frank Costello. One may say it is blasphemous to criticize an actor of Nicholson's caliber, but he has become more and more of just Jack Nicholson, dishing out the same act in every film rather than delving into the character and bringing unique life to each role.

All in all, The Departed is a worthy copy of Infernal Affairs, a hard-to-top film that brought the Hong Kong film industry to a new high. By taking an already solid and intriguing script and then adding even more depth and intensity, the writers, producers and director of The Departed came out with a winning formula. When I first heard that there would be a remake of Infernal Affairs, I was extremely skeptical, but I am hereby proven wrong.