As an Englishman living in Hong Kong, i am in the unusual position of having seen the original "Infernal Affairs" in the cinema in 2002, and now "The Departed" in the self same cinema 4 years later. Both are first class movies. The remake is very loyal to the original, and only locations and a few minor changes have been made. It is one of the best movies of this genre i have seen in a long time. Probably the best since i saw the original one. I would say that Martin Sheen was slightly miscast, and Matt Damon, although good, does not get the same sympathy from me as did Andy Lau in the original version. The point about this is that you should like this character,which is at odds with the fact that he is a bad guy. I tended to like Andy Lau, whereas Matt Damon was not quite so likable. This is a rather "picky" point, and would probably only be picked up by somebody who has seen both versions. I was amazed that two and a half hours disappeared without trace in the cinema, and i truly wanted to see more. An excellent movie that deserves a number of accolades. I am sure we will be seeing those during next years round of awards.