"The Departed:"

From my upcoming review in The American Conservative:

As American filmmaking has hit the doldrums, the best Chinese-language movies, such as "Hero" and "2046," have come to rival in quality anything recently made in America. Now, the most critically-celebrated American director, Martin Scorsese ("Taxi Driver" and "The Aviator"), has directly taken up the Chinese challenge. "The Departed" transplants to Boston the subtle, laconic 2002 Hong Kong cops-and-gangsters thriller "Infernal Affairs" about a crook who infiltrates the police while an undercover detective worms his way into his mob.

I'm proud to report the Americans have won the face-off. As fine as "Infernal Affairs" is, "The Departed" is an order of magnitude more entertaining. Our boys triumph the same way we did in World War II -- by throwing everything, including the kitchen sink, into the fray. The loquacious "Departed," which ends up a sort of brutal action tragicomedy, might be overstuffed, but it's certainly overwhelming.

My published articles are archived at iSteve.com -- Steve Sailer