Although the basic structure of the plot in both films are both the same, and is based on the interaction and events faced by the two protagonists, and thus bringing out the predicament and helplessness of the two under covers from both the police and the underworld. The two films are quite different because of their socio-cultural contexts, the studio systems of production and the ideas of artistic creativity. In this essay I will discuss the cultural contexts of production and reception between these two films.

Infernal Affairs and it’s American remake The departed set several records in both Hong Kong cinema and Hollywood. While “Infernal Affairs won all major film awards in Hong Kong in the year of it’s release and is recognised as the film that brought Hong Kong commercial cinema back to it’s feet after almost a decade of declination”, The Departed earned auteur director Martin Scorsese his first Oscar award for Best Director in 2007 and remains to be Scorsese’s highest grossing film domestically. Both Infernal Affairs and The Departed’s critical acclaim and commercial success are unprecedented; although remakes of Japanese horror films became trendy in the first decade of the twenty first century in Hollywood, they received “lukewarm critical and scholarly attention despite their general commercial success. Therefore, Infernal Affairs and The Departed’s rare combination of critical recognition and commercial popularity serves as a significant case study that