Faithfully Undecided

I just caught The Departed.

I was not expecting the movie to be any better than the original Hong Kong trilogy.

I was not disappointed.

Give me Tony Leung and Andy Lau anytime.

The storyline changed. By a little but i thoroughly hated the ending. Yes. Hated.

Just like how I so much more preferred the original cut of Infernal Affairs. Andy Lau got to walk off scot-free. The China market's "alternate" ending had Andy Lau being led away by the police. Personally I feel that the "evil person gets away" ending was better. It fits the chinese title much better.

无间道

It is from Buddhist scriptures and in it there are explanations for the various levels of hell where a soul has to go through. This place, the chinese title to the movie, refers to the worst place in hell where you will be in eternal damnation. And if Andy were to be led away by the police, he would have "paid his dues", so to speak. However if he were able get away, he will be tormented by his guilt and fear, perhaps for the rest of his life.

There is a religious skew in Martin Scorsese's Departed which I particularly liked. Matt Damon as a young altar boy in a Catholic upbringing and how the Catholic teachings are contrasted with the rhetorics of Jack Nicholson.

Right, Jack Nicholson. He stole the show didn't he? Unlike Eric Tsang who allowed room for Tony and Andy to hog the limelight, Jack Nicholson, in a typical Jack Nicholson manner, dominated the movie. To me, that's a shame. Mark Wahlberg was the only other actor who displayed some inspired thespian craft. Pity that his character (not in the original Hong Kong version) had to kill off Matt Damon. Left me wondering why the movie ended that way. Why did Mark Wahlberg kill Matt Damon? Because he realised that Matt Damon was the "rat"? Avenging his superior played by Martin Sheen? Or that he was also a under cover for Jack Nicholson who infiltrated the state police and was avenging Jack Nicholson's death? This is implausible because he would have ratted on Leonardo di Caprio. Or was he avenging Leonardo di Caprio? Hence the ending, a rather cheesey one, with a rat running across the balcony ledge against the Boston State House with the golden dome was, erm, rather cryptic.

All in, the movie was more than watchable. The plot was allowed more time to developed. Hence the reasons for mental stress on Leonardo di Caprio was more appreciable and obvious than Tony Leung's. But I found the original Hong Kong production a lot more sleek and better characterisation by the actors, especially Andy Lau and Tony Leung. The psychiatrist played by Kelly Chen was tonnes prettier than whoever was playing her role in The Departed. I liked how the psychiatrist in The Departed was written to have a three-way relationship with Matt Damon and Leonardo di Caprio.

I like the song Comfortably Numb (covered by Van Morrison original by Pink Floyd) which was used somewhere rather appropriately.

Princess Poofie liked the track I'm Shipping Up To Boston by the Dropkick Murphys. A Boston band with Celtic influence.


*edit* - Mark Wahlberg plays the role of Anthony Wong actually. Sort of....I just re-watched Infernal Affairs. The Martin Sheen character in The Departed died early in Infernal Affairs. The other who was at the interview session to recruit Tony Leung as a mole was Anthony Wong. But in Martin Scorsese's remake, Martin Sheen died the same way Anthony Wong died in Infernal Affairs; off the building. Confused? Then don't bother hahaha....