Infernal Affairs

Director: Andrew Lau and Alan Mak
Year Released: 2002
Rating: 2.5

Intriguing to see the genesis of Scorsese's masterful The Departed and how he and screenwriter William Monahan took this particular script and made it more crisp and clear, fleshing out side characters, adding more details and basically crafting a better, funnier movie. I remember reading a blurb at the time of The Departed's release that the producers of this didn't care for the Scorsese version which might have been out of jealousy - you can certainly dislike Marty's version, but there's no denying his is the work of a more experienced filmmaker while this is an above-average police procedural with a few unique twists and turns. To see how good endings are made in the editing room, take a peek at the 'alternate ending' on the video release of this - it's so abrupt it's almost a joke (and would have killed - no pun intended - what was built up prior to it).