Infernal Remakes (Or: The Last Temptation of Martin Scorsese)

Filmbrain recently made a Chinatown run to pick up a fistful of DVDs that he'd been meaning to catch up on. Of all of them, the Infernal Affairs trilogy excited him the most, having read so much about them in the past year. Then there was the news that Martin Scorsese is going to remake the first film of the trilogy. This got Filmbrain a bit nervous, given his utter disdain towards remakes, especially of contemporary Asian films -- if the originals are good enough, why not simply release them? However, Scorsese is an excellent director, so Filmbrain isn't sure what to think. For those not in the know, Infernal Affairs is a policier that transcends the genre -- one that has been well overused in Hong Kong cinema. The film is slick, well written and acted, fast paced and suspenseful, but still intelligent enough to hold the interest of a curmudgeon like Filmbrain. It stars Wong Kar Wai regulars Andy Lau (As Tears Go By, Days of Being Wild) and Tony Leung (Happy Together, In the Mood for Love) who, judging by the remake must be the Brad Pitt and Leonardo DiCaprio of Hong Kong (natch). Even though it touches on familiar themes (loyalty, identity) it relies more on its actors and screenplay than it does on bullets and brawn. The story focuses on two men who happen to both be moles -- one inside the police force, and one inside a triad gang, and each is trying to determine the identity of the other. Along with the psychology and moral complexity of the situation, there's an interesting dichotomy between the moles themselves and their respective bosses cum father figures. Action sequences are kept to a minimum -- the tension comes from the intricate details that are revealed in almost every scene of the film. (Paying close attention is a pre-requisite.) Some have compared the film to Heat, though directors Andrew Lau and Alan Mak claimed to have had The Godfather in mind when creating the trilogy. The early news on the remake doesn't sound very promising. Two critical characters have been jettisoned, so as to focus all of the attention on Brad and Leonardo. This is a terrible mistake, in Filmbrain's not-so-humble opinion. It's not a clash-of-egos story, and all of the (seemingly) minor characters play a major part in elevating the film to something greater than a standard police drama. Filmbrain still has faith in Scorsese, yet he feels that the remake will be more Cape Fear than Raging Bull. Look for Filmbrain's review of parts II and III over the next few days.

Comments

[drew]

Hey, if it turned out to be a Cape Fear, I'd have no prob whatsoever. Scorsese's never going to make another Raging Bull. Mid-level flicks like Cape Fear, Color Of Money, After Hours, etc., are still better than 95% of everything else out there.

[Aaron]

I saw Infernal Affairs at ND/NF last year (I think it was), and like you, I really enjoyed it. I'm sure Scorsese will not be making a simple and/or boring remake (regardless of how well it turns out), and while I haven't read that much about the specifics of the story as they're transferring it to American soil, the key to the first film is those two main characters anyway. I wouldn't say this about many filmmakers, but I'll put my faith in Scorsese's vision until I see it fail, which for me has only really happened once with New York, New York. Gangs of New York was flawed, a bit unfocused and overlong, but as Drew said above, it's still better than most of the stuff out there. And actually, I just saw a chunk of his Cape Fear a few weeks ago, and there's some really good stuff in that movie.

I haven't seen the other two Infernals though. I'm interested to see what you think.

[Aaron]

Oh yeah, and as someone who is not a fan of Heat (I think Michael Mann is a better director of sequences -- the bank heist and the coffee shop scene are brilliant; the rest of the film to me was overlong and dull aside from some nice lighting), Infernal Affairs is a much better movie because it manages to integrate its unique style with its paranoid and hyperkinetic psychology attached to each of these undercover guys.

[Filmbrain]

Drew/Aaron -- What both of you say about Scorsese is entirely correct. Perhaps he agreed to do this to raise funds for his long-desired Gershwin pic?

If it's true that the police chief and gang boss are being written out of the remake, that means it's just going to be about Brad/Leonardo, no?

[Aaron]

Maybe, but I would imagine that they can't be written out completely or what is happening is a complete reimagining of the basic set-up. As you well know, both of those characters are integral to the development of the Brad/Leonardo characters. Without them there, what do you have? You're right ... not much. Which just leads me to think that I can't imagine Scorsese is about to do a simple action movie with not much and Brad and Leo just staring at each other with guns drawn (like the great scene on the Hong Kong building top). Maybe this won't be a remake as much as a complete reimagination ... maybe they're coming up with a more complex situation rather than simply overall good guy (his police contact/supervisor ... was he the chief? ok) and overall bad guy (gang boss). I don't know. The only thing I do have faith in is that of all people, Scorsese isn't about to dramatically change the story into something that is uninteresting. But then again ... I'll pretty much always give him the benefit of the doubt until he makes me doubt too much.