by Sun Meilan

Created on: January 30, 2009

Billy Costigan and Colin Sullivan both enter the police force wanting to work their way up. The only thing is, Colin is really a mole, planted by Irish mob leader, Frank Costello, whereas Billy, because of his family's mob connections, is planted undercover and becomes Costello's right hand man. A first, neither man is aware of the other; Billy's point of contact is through agents Queenan and Dignam, and Colin, who works for Queenan and Dignam, has a hot line direct to Costello himself. But then it becomes clear that there is a mole on both sides of the law; will Billy and Colin be able to continue to fight for their sides without being uncovered? Or is one of them doomed to die a painful death?

Based on the Hong Kong thriller Infernal Affairs, I've long wanted to watch this film. Usually, I stay clear of remakes of Asian films - I haven't exactly been persuaded to watch them after watching the odd one or two and realising how poor they are in comparison. This film seemed to be different though; certainly the critics seemed to love it. I have deliberately not yet watched Infernal Affairs though, although it's ready and waiting on my shelf, simply because I wanted to watch this film without any prior conceptions. Apparently, the basic structure is the same in both versions, although a certain amount of their own identity has been maintained, but obviously I cannot comment on this at the moment.

I thought Leonardo DiCaprio, who plays Billy Costigan, was outstanding. DiCaprio has been much maligned by critics for his acting in the past; personally, I think if anyone has any doubts about his capabilities, then they should watch this film. Whereas I think many actors would play the role of Costigan with complete bravado, at least to the viewer's eye, DiCaprio really shows the fear and confusion that must have gone along with having such a dangerous job. At the same time, he is enough in control of his emotions to be completely convincing in his role as a mole. For me, he turned the movie from being a good thriller into being an exceptional one, he really is that good.

Matt Damon is also great as Colin Sullivan; by ordinary standards, I would be more enthusiastic about his performance, but he didn't quite blow me out of the water in the way that DiCaprio did. I think this is probably just because of his character. Sullivan is extremely cool, calm and collected, safe in the knowledge that he is trusted both by his police bosses and Costello, which perhaps doesn't give

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