'The Departed' leaves you shaking

It was 2002 when the astounding Hong Kong cop thriller "Infernal Affairs" debuted to critical acclaim and instantly became a megahit. It would take two years for it to reach even a limited release in the United States, and that gem of cinema pulp was, sadly, a blip on America's radar. It might have stayed that way had Martin Scorsese not given new life to "Infernal Affairs" in his unique remake, "The Departed." The film opened, like its predecessor, to well-deserved critical acclaim and respectable box-office takes (especially for a Scorsese film), and already seems to be on its way to Oscar glory.

Scorsese's film should serve as ample ammunition for anyone defending Hollywood remakes of foreign movies. "The Departed" faithfully follows, until the very end, the intricate, blood-soaked, duplicitous and engaging plot of "Infernal." With Boston standing in for Hong Kong, the film follows two men on opposite sides of the law. One is a state police officer, the other a gangster — but "The Departed" cleverly twists the familiar cops-and-robbers genre with a fresh take on justice, morality and criminality. The cop, in this case, is undercover in the Boston underworld while the mobster is posing as a detective trying to bring down that same mob.

In one corner is Scorsese's new golden boy, Leonardo DiCaprio, as Billy Costigan, the police department's short-tempered mole in the Irish mafia. DiCaprio wears a jaded scowl through the whole film that, in another movie, would make him seem flat and uninteresting. Here, though, it's a stark contrast to the almost jovial decrepitude of mob boss Frank Costello, played by Jack Nicholson in fine, menacing form. It also bears strong resemblance to Tony Leung's more effective, subtly intense interpretation of the same character in "Infernal Affairs." There is no subtlety in Nicholson's villainous role. He is not only brutally nihilistic, but also a foulmouthed, racist chauvinist. "Flippantly intimidating" might seem oxymoronic, but it fits the way Nicholson has interpreted his role, without an ounce of gravitas.

The other corner holds a very different personality: Matt Damon as Colin Sullivan. A police officer planted in the force by Costello to watch his back, Colin is Billy's counterpoint and true nemesis. While Billy masks his uncertainty and self-doubt with aggression, Colin hides behind smooth talk and the aegis of authority. Each has much to be nervous about, as the stakes are inevitably high. The two moles participate in an elaborate dance of deception, each attempting to smoke out the other before being found out himself. With Scorsese's taut deployment of these three fine actors, let's just say things between them get rather complicated and very exciting.

Rounding out the cops is a surprising pairing of A-list actors, Martin Sheen and Alec Baldwin. Unfortunately, neither is given much face-time — one gets the feeling they were included in the misguided hope that big names mean big box office numbers. More impressive is the performance of Mark Wahlberg, who plays officer Dignam, a character just as prone to ethnic slurs as Costello, with blood that boils as hot as Billy's.

There is one final character worth mentioning, and it is notable that she is mentioned last. Vera Farmiga plays Madolyn, an interesting hybrid of the two moles' separate girlfriends in "Infernal Affairs." The emotional center of this testosterone-fest, she brings a sense of composure and humanity to the two leads, who both take a romantic interest in her. Without her presence, it is hard to imagine Damon having much of a character at all. At the same time, she is relegated to the background of the action — she doesn't act, but reacts. Damon and DiCaprio bruise their psyches in the field, and she is left to pick up the pieces. Scorsese doesn't have a history of being able to craft strong, independent female leads, and "The Departed" is unfortunately no exception.

The liability that comes with any remake is, of course, inevitable comparison to the original. "The Departed" benefits from the fact that its original is relatively obscure in the states, and it works best when its source is ignored. Though Scorsese pumped up his version by about 50 minutes from the original, "The Departed" lacks much of the adrenaline-pumping tension between the leads in the original's action sequences. The upshot of this is that Scorsese's version has more characterization and background relevance, while also managing to be rather more subtle in its themes.

The film opens to documentary-style footage of urban unrest on the mean streets of Boston and the ironically cool tunes of The Rolling Stones. The racial and ethnic tensions within the city's darker alleys are given light at times, though Scorsese admirably refuses to dwell excessively. While the setting of "Infernal Affairs" made it a pastiche to Hong Kong cops-and-robbers flicks, Boston gives "The Departed" relevance in America. This is a country, in Scorsese's view, littered with conflict and animosity, where the difference between the criminals and the ones out to get them becomes blurrier and blurrier.

At the crux of "The Departed" is the notion so furiously derided in "Adaptation" by Charlie Kaufman. "You explore the notion that cop and criminal are really two aspects of the same person," Kaufman says. "See every cop movie ever made for other examples of this." Compare this to Costello's Machiavellian pseudo-morality: "You could become cops or criminals. What I'm saying is this: when you're facing a loaded gun, what's the difference?" To his credit, Scorsese is not so clumsy in the rest of the film to expose the cliched core of "The Departed" again, but I still smell a rat.

In this way, "The Departed" falls victim to the same thematic simplicity of its predecessor, without similarly memorable tropes. In the end, it is not as exceptional or thrilling as "Infernal Affairs."

That's not to say the film isn't worthwhile. On the contrary, "The Departed" is an exquisitely composed kaleidoscope of brutal justice. Scorsese effectively rises above his genre through multilayered characters, jarring narrative and mild social commentary, which is more than most Hollywood directors can achieve. "The Departed" does not let the viewer sit back peacefully; the film is unsettling and thought-provoking, and well worth the trip over to Market Fair if you're looking for a weekend diversion or a somewhat darker take on the human condition.