One of the better flicks I’ve seen in a while is Infernal Affairs, a Chinese production that was the basis for Scorsese’s The Departed.The movie was well crafted, had big name Chinese actors, and a great tense moments, but apparently that wasn’t good enough for the film’s promoters.
Check out the cover of the DVD packaging, which features a gun-toting girl in a tight outfit... that doesn’t appear in the movie at all. Oh and the guys in the background? Those are the two “stars” of the film.
Sadly, this cover coupled with the cheesy name was destined to cause this movie to be passed over on the shelves of Blockbusters as some low grade B-movie. But luckily, given the new attention due to The Departed, there’s been a rerelease with a much more respectable cover image.
I’m interested to see how Scorsese has adapted the story. But judging from the reviews, he likely did a damn fine job.
Although I will say that I lost a lot of respect for Cameron Crowe’s Vanilla Sky after seeing how much was directly lifted from the original, Abre Los Ojos.
