A few reviews

[mnkykungfu]

Yeah, agree with a lot of what you said. Except the "loosely based" part. As a big fan of HK cinema (and the Infernal Affairs series), I was incensed when Scorsese saw the movie about a year after it came out and just straight up jacked it. It's such an example of white privilege that directors like him and Tarantino can supposedly "really love and appreciate" the work of Asian directors, but instead of giving them public credit or getting their films released into wide distribution in the US, they cannibalize them for stories that they can profit from themselves.

The Departed is essentially all of the first Infernal Affairs, with the bookends of Infernal Affairs II. The specifics are changed to be about Boston, but even still, many lines are exactly translated, whole scenes are blocked nearly identically, very specific camera angles that were iconic from the original are stolen for the remake. The psychiatrist relationship doesn't work because it's just a convention of the HK film genre, and those relationships are always paper thin. They do nothing to strengthen it here.

The big addition is in technology. Scorsese smartly works updated tech into the film, especially one significantly-changed scene involving tense text messaging! It's so fricking genius that for that alone The Departed is (sadly, reluctantly) a better film than the original. But I still think these established Hollywood directors are full of it when they express their admiration for modern Asian directors. If you admire them so much, promote their work, don't take it for your own.