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Underground > Film, TV & Theatre >

Infernal Affairs (and The Departed) [SPOILERS for both]

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06:04 / 02.10.07

Never saw this thread in the 'lith before.

Is it me or if they felt they couldn't tie an ending together and just blew up a H bomb in mid-setence when Leo was talking to Damon in the elevator and "THE END" came up as the nuclear explosion went on, wouldn't have made much of a difference?

Does Infernal Affairs have the same cop (hoho) out?

Guns & killings never felt as much like a sort of deus ex machina as it did here...

(oh god, that rat in the end...)

08:56 / 02.10.07

Thematically, The Departed takes a different route to Infernal Affairs, with the American film exploring the idea of a sort of indestructible kernel of self that remains untouched by the external identity of the characters. Infernal Affairs seems more to be about retreading the idea of cops/ criminals being two sides of the same coin. Consequently the ending of the Hong Kong movie involves the mob rat in the police force starting to try and do the right thing. He kills the head of the gang and it ends with his girlfriend leaving him and his previous misdeeds weighing on his newfound conscience. So the endings actually start going in different directions quite early on because in some ways the movies are about different things; the hong kong ending wouldn't have worked with the ideas the American movie was exploring.

I read somewhere that the relase of Infernal Affairs in mainland China required that the ending be altered to something more similar to The Departed, on the grounds that the censors didn't liek the idea that the 'villain' gets away unpunished - obviously the idea that he's saddled with regrets was a bit too nebulous for them.

09:27 / 02.10.07

I'll sure give it a look. The most pleasant aspect of the film for me was the beginning's suggestion that this duplicity would loop itself on its own ass for infinity throughout both sides instead of thriller stake-outs and the like (and when it sort of comes to that -- briefly -- it all goes away in... ugh) until some type of complete annihilation of the frontier.

And was expecting more shots of Nicholson's silhouette
with Gimme Shelter on the background (it's an annoying wank-4-Jack, but that montage at least gave a feel of Goodfellas in its editing -- but no charm or depth of characters).

Essential Dazzler

09:48 / 02.10.07

The Alternate ending is included on my version of the DVD and it is Hilarious.

It's just so lazy, identical to the Actual ending right up until Lau steps out of the elevator. Out of nowhere a group of Police approach him, "Lau we've discovered you've been working as a mole", slap some cuffs on him, credits.

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