"Sometimes when deeply familiar conventions are borrowed and remade..."

Stephanie Zacharek's deep-seated cultural chauvinism astonishes me. As a Hong Konger, I find the above quote rather offensive. Is the good Ms Zacharek actually implying that all gangster themes and tropes in pop culture have their roots in America?

Other than that, I strongly encourage everyone to watch the original Infernal Affairs I, II, and III. Get them English subbed, listen to the Cantonese dialogue pronounced the way it was intended to be, and appreciate the originals for their unfamiliar beauty.

According to http://filmsociety.wellington.net.nz/db/screeningdetail.php?id=62 the first gangster film was D.W Griffith's Musketeers of Pig Alley.

So, yeah, Moo, the gangster films genre started in the U.S.

"Goodfellas, for all its violence, carries nearly no emotional weight -- it's a tooting fairground organ with no soul."

I think that in her effort to praise The Departed, the author might have gone a little overboard with this comment. Goodfellas is (along with Raging Bull) Scorsese's masterpiece, and more substantial than a "fairground organ."

At this point, it's not clear who is borrowing from whom. I've seen Infernal Affairs, and it is a fine movie. Tony Leung's performance is the heart of the movie. I'm not sure if I want to see The Departed though--yes, Scorsese directed it, but can he really get more out of the story?

It's interesting how many foreign language movies are being remade by American filmmakers...I wonder how many American films are remade in other countries...probably not many.

Please be aware that this is the kind of review that does not serve your readers.

It begins with an inept cultural parallel - are we really expected to believe that the Beatles' note-for-note cover of the novelty song "Act Naturally" cuts to the soul of American music? The writing style is florid and confused - are tootling fairground organs supposed to have soul? Can blood be forged? It spends half its length discussing the source material, which is itself derivative, in extensive but useless film dork detail - Tony Leung may be fabulous in "Infernal Affairs" but I'd have to take your word for it, and there's little here that makes me trust your opinion.

On the plus side, even from this review I can postulate that "The Departed" is just the latest Scorsese misfire to be pumped up by anxious critics who wish it was better, so thanks for that anyway.

How do you ladle with a spatula? I'm just asking.

I'm really conflicted about this film. I love Scorsese, but Infernal Affairs is a magnificent work, one of the most satisying movie experiences I've ever had and a movie that restored my faith and fandom for Hong Kong filmmaking; and while I like DiCaprio, there is no universe in which he could even hope to fill Tony Leung's shoes, and the thought of Nicholson running amok over Eric Tsang's subtle, chilling character is distressing. (Matt Damon for Andy Lau is a fair trade, though.) I don't know if I'll be able to bring myself to see it, and the "yes, but..." reviews I keep seeing (and this one is among them) aren't doing much to convince me.

Perhaps the best reason for this to exist is that it might point people towards the original (and yes, the U.S. release of it was completely botched, but I expected that). It would be nice if American audiences could learn that there's plenty of good Chinese-language filmmaking that isn't about martial arts.

Stephanie Z's idiotic assertion that "Goodfellas, for all its violence, carries nearly no emotional weight -- it's a tooting fairground organ with no soul," just goes to prove that Chicks don't understand Gangster films.

Goodfellas is easily the best film of the 1990s, and probably the best of Scorscese's career thus far. It's lousy with emotion weight - as the high-flying, free floating swagger of a young man on the make curdles into the paranoia and terror of a middle manager's career and life going down the tubes.

Frankly, I doubt any film that casts Jack Nicholson as Whitey Bulger can equal the originality or authenticity of a masterpiece like Goodfellas.

Salon, you shouldn't let dumb skirts review things they'll never understand. Let them stick to reviewing chick flicks and historical costume pieces, beacause they just don't have the right equipment to review gangster films.

"Is the good Ms Zacharek actually implying that all gangster themes and tropes in pop culture have their roots in America?"

Short answer? Yes.

Long answer? Well, lets see...we can go back to the 1920's and 1930's and count, oh, I dunno...maybe 100's of gangster films made in the U.S. back then. They were 2nd. only to Westerns in their number and scope...and that's a big "maybe," I'm sure somebody could prove me wrong on that. However, my point is this: how many Hong Kong gangster films can you name from that time period?

Perhaps the good Moo could explain that one...or would you have us believe that Hong Kong cinema invented the Western as well?

If you can point me to an actor comparable to James Cagney or Humphrey Bogart from Hong Kong cinema prior to 1945, please let me know.

But Berlin was definitely turning out its share of gangster and underworld thrillers in the '20s and early '30s (Fritz Lang's "M" comes to mind) - until of course the real gangsters took over the whole country and started forcing the German studios to produce more wholesome propaganda pieces with robust Alpine madchens in peril from "hook nosed cosmipolitains." But in those decadent interwar years, Berlin was just as in love with its gangsters as Chicago was...

In any case, the original movie, Infernal Affairs, is great. I highly recommend it. From what I've read in the papers, The Departed, is not. As is often the case, the original surpasses the remake. I've never been crazy about remakes anyway. Often the same ground is being covered and nothing new is offered.

Very good flick. I disagree with the reviewer - if DiCaprio added any more heartsickness to his character he would have fallen to pieces. DiCaprio was quite good in this flick but not as good as in "The Aviator," and I think it was due to the direction. He seemed a little jumpy as an undercover guy at a lot of points, and I think he was being directed to act that way. The scene where he was being interrogated by Sheen and Wahlberg for the job with the State Police, and the scene in the theater, were made by his acting.

There were a few discontinuities in the cut scenes that dropped me out of the story for a few seconds at crucial times.

The love interest, whoever she is, wasn't very interesting. Baldwin was better suited than his role than Sheen, and did a better job. Nicholson wasn't just all eyebrows - he was quite good.

As far as the accents ( I'm from there ) Wahlberg's was dead on, Damon's seems a little heavy, and DiCaprio was a bit off. The other actors seemed to come and go with it, but after Wahlberg and Di I'd say Sheen did it the best.

As for the overall plot, it was good, and I'm glad they didn't Hollywood-ise the ending.