In 2002 there was a film called Infernal Affairs. It was a big hit in its home of Hong Kong and all over Asia. It was a highly entertaining crime movie starring a pair of actors who know how to get it done in Andy Lau and Tony Leung.
It was a finely crafted game of cat and mouse from directors Andrew Lau and Alan Mak. Considering how much I enjoyed that film, I was skeptical when I heard it was in line for an American remake. I never dismiss a remake out of hand, as some turn out to be very good. But if it is of a movie I like, there is always the initial worry that a good film will be let down by an inferior copy.
Fortunately, that is not the case here. Good fortune smiled upon us all when Martin Scorsese became the name attached to the film. He brought with him screenwriter William Monahan, whose only prior credit is Ridley Scott's Kingdom of Heaven.
Then the actors started to line up and sign on the dotted line: Leonardo Dicaprio, Matt Damon, Jack Nicholson, Mark Wahlberg, and Alec Baldwin, among others. All of the planets were aligning for this one.
Opening night came and I found myself in the middle of a sizable crowd, all sitting in anticipation of this new entry in the crime genre from the master. The trailers played, followed by our introduction to Boston -- to Marty's Boston -- a city filled with good guys and bad guys and those still figuring out which side of the line they’re on.
Frank Costello (Jack Nicholson) is the man. He is the bad guy everybody fears, as he just may be the physical manifestation of the devil himself. We are introduced to him as he takes an interest in a young man at a local corner grocery in what appears to be the early 1980s. He gives him some food for his family and a handful of change. This act sets the young man’s future in motion.
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