The much awaited Hollywood Martin Scorsese remake of the 2002 Hong Kong gangster hit INFERNAL AFFAIRS is amazing and puts Scorsese back in top form Oscar material again (after THE AVIATOR).

The main plot of THE DEPARTED is kept identical though both films are radically different but excellent.  The story concerns two moles, one planted in the police force and the other in an Irish mobster gang.

THE DEPARTED is re-set in South Boston.  Billy Costigan (Leonardo DiCaprio) is expelled from the police force but secretly hired to infiltrate the mob while Colin Sullivan (Matt Damon) clandestinely reports to his mobster boss Costello (Jack Nicholson, stealing every scene he is in again) while serving in uniform.

The rest of the film interweaves the action of the two culminating in a confrontation as both discover each other’s identity.

INFERNAL AFFAIRS was a moodier, compelling tale focusing on twin parallels - reflected in the nature of the two bosses – the chief inspector and drug king-pin; in the similarities encountered in the tasks performed by the two moles and again in the emotional trauma resulting in the prolonged playing of a faked role.  The chief inspector here is replaced by a good cop (Martin Sheen) bad cop (Mark Whalberg) duo, also brilliantly written in by William Monahan.  While THE DEPARTED maintains the tale, director Scorsese injects more bite in the form of violence, sprite dialogue and atmosphere.  The acting in THE DEPARTED is also top-notch, especially DiCaprio’s performance as the most disturbed character.  One major improvement is the strength of the female role.  The two female roles in INFERNAL AFFAIRS are combined into one.  DiCaprio and Damon bed the same lady – a therapist, Madolyn (Vera Farminga, soon to be seen in BREAKING AND ENTERING) helping out the force and those disturbed by violence.  Though the romance may be a bit of a diversion, Madolyn’s both abandonment of Colin and sympathy for Billy strengthen the trauma the two men have to undergo.  Not only do the two men have to forgo their identities, but their loves, friends and family as well.  The one credibility problem in the film is the insistence of Monahan’s script to reveal the existence other moles in the force and mob at the end of the film.

For a film running more than 150 minutes, Scorsese moves his film at a pace that never slows down.  The interweaving of the characters of the two moles and complicated plot is never at any time confusing or uninteresting.  THE DEPARTED proves that remakes of an excellent film can be given a different treatment and still come up tops.