Why do you rate this movie with 1? - Mou gaan dou (2002) Discussion

[–] aetheriality 17 years ago

the reason is that their mental age is seemingly younger than 12

Everything is made to be perfect.

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[–] khkwang 17 years ago

I think most of the 1 voters are from the females under 18.

Females under 18, Average Vote: 3.6

"OMG, like Infernal Affairs doesn't have hot naked Leo, so it deserves a 1!" :-\

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[–] mmserrano4 8 years ago

neither did the departed, jackass. quit framing it as if you don't like something therefore it is "objectively" bad.

All great and precious things are lonely.

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[–] chaconmcfly 17 years ago

I would say to that ppl, Its a better movie when you know how to read.

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[–] osmanzeki 17 years ago

I can't believe 977 individual gave this movie a 1.

Out of which 622 males and 322 females.

Its a good thing enough people rated this movie with a more appropriate score... but I mean the IMDB ratings are so broken its maddening...

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[–] Tiigerr 13 years ago

Actually I'm pretty sure IMDb cuts off some of the top votes and some of the bottom votes to get a more accurate rating.

Some people vote 10s excessively on anything they remotely like and some people vote 1s on anything they remotely dislike or just for the heck of it. But I'm fairly certain IMDb has an algorithm that somewhat takes care of this as to not completely tarnish the rating.

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[–] johnwuek-1 17 years ago

Consider these facts.

1) Martin Scorsese, formally nominated for best directing in The Aviator and The Gangs of NY, won an Oscar with the Departed.
2) Mou Gan Dou was released in 2002, and just FOUR years later, a Hollywood remake is released.
3) The Departed stars Leo, Jack Nicholson, Matt Damon AND Mark Wahlberg - all of whom would easily be lead role actors in any other film if on their own.

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[–] crysta1_essence 17 years ago

That does not mean that the departed is a better movie though.
Mou Gan Dou was released in 2002 in Asia, but released internationally in 2004,so not many people would know of this film, and yes it is a remake of the film.
and so great actors were casted in the departed, but there were also great actors in infernal affairs as well. So do not determine that the film is greater purely on these rubbish.

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[–] aetheriality 17 years ago

you didn't understand johnwuek's point, all his fact are trying to prove that BOTH infernal affairs and the departed were good movies, NOT that departed is a better movie than infernal affairs.

Everything is made to be perfect.

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[–] BladePuppet 17 years ago

Stupid little girls...

I know Kung Fu.

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[–] Dantès 17 years ago

There are probably a lot of slobbering Scorsese fanboys who firmly believe the Departed was infintely better and want to drag down IA's rating.

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[–] 17 years ago

[deleted]

[–] omega6666 17 years ago

The great thing about IMDb ratings is that 1 (and 10) voters are normally filtered out from the weighed average. If the ratings curve doesn't have a natural flowing curve, because of too many 1's and 10's, these extremes are simply cut off :)
So let those n00bs vote all they want; it simply won't matter anything

Gee, I really wish I wanted to help.

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[–] chrislandaverde 15 years ago

and they did it... f. them

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[–] crysta1_essence 17 years ago

No, what Johnweuk clearly stated in his points was totally biased towards infernal affairs.

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[–] kanartist 17 years ago

yeah... cause the all good actors and the best director participate on the american version right?

get real... just because it's famous doesn't mean it's better...

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[–] peter-kat 14 years ago

I gave 1 as i wanted to push this out of the IMDB 250. I hated the movie. Lame

Each thing I do, I rush through, so I can do something else.

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[–] Desertman84 13 years ago

People who gave this a rating of 1 are lazy to read subtitles.
I gave this movie a 10 inspite of not being able to understand a word of Cantonese for it was an awesome movie.

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[–] trixie28forever 17 years ago

I can't imagine why ANYONE in the right mind would rate this movie with a 1... it's amazing! I'm still reeling from disbelief that it's a film produced in Hong Kong. The Departed is great as well- I watched it last night- but I think IA is better.

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[–] pfnuesel 15 years ago

What makes you think that a movie made in Hong Kong can't be that great?

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[–] CitrusWithFuschiaTrim 15 years ago

^ What pfnuesel said.

trixie28forever, please come back and explain yourself.
_____
I suppose on a clear day you can see the class struggle from here.

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[–] regexfan 8 years ago

I can't imagine why ANYONE in the right mind would rate this movie with a 1... it's amazing! I'm still reeling from disbelief that it's a film produced in Hong Kong.

You haven't been watching many Hong Kong movies, have you? Get yourself familiar with films made and produced in Hong Kong, you'll realize this movie isn't the best one they have.

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[–] remurmur 17 years ago

I gave this movie a 3. The plot is muddled to the point of excess.

Good guy pretending to be bad guy
vs. bad guy pretending to be good guy and turns into good guy...maybe.

That's not good scripting, that's a "WTF is going on?" plot.

Throw in the lack of backstory into the characters' motives for being who they are and it's get a mess to get through.

The Departed suffers from the same problem, though for some reason I gave that a 7. It was better made, but I still don't care for it.

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[–] z-mbe 17 years ago

To the above:

That is because you're too *beep* stupid to understand it. I don't think anyone else had a "WTF is going on?" on their minds while watching the movie.

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[–] 17 years ago

[deleted]

[–] pean_ts 17 years ago

so it's the same movie with the same lacks but one gets 3 (poor) and the other 7 (good)... Now i can say "WTF is going on?" Oh, it was better made...huhu... wrong.

So, i guess you're an under 18 girl who don't like to read subtittles (-1), and who thinks that leo movies get a +3...

I sure won't follow your advices next time i go for a movie...

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[–] blackheart981 17 years ago

The Departed blew and thats all. Nothing wrong with IA or the trilogy in general.

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[–] 17 years ago

[deleted]

[–] remurmur 16 years ago

Why is everyone on IMDb so completely irrational?

ALL OPINIONS MUST BE *beep* EXTREME

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[–] Stopyfueh 15 years ago

That's a damn good question.

I can't wait to read the reviews to find out whether I liked this or not!

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[–] gsic_batou 15 years ago

This from a guy that defended "Nacho Libre" based on its cinematography.
Idiocy is a state of mind. A totalitarian state of mind in this guy's case.

----
BB: Behold I plunge my hands in fire I feel no heat
DC: That's just great! Give us another.

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[–] Forlorn_Rage 12 years ago

This from a guy that defended "Nacho Libre" based on its cinematography.
Idiocy is a state of mind. A totalitarian state of mind in this guy's case.

I realize you made this comment three years ago, but my goodness, it is hilarious! I'm stifling laughter as I am typing. Nacho Libre, unexpectedly being brought up in the "Infernal Affairs" board is making me laugh so hard! Thank you. =)

Anyway to get ontopic, I can respect opinions if people didn't like this movie and give it a low rating, but rating IF a one is just being petty. I can only assume there are outside, boorish reasons for rating a movie a practically non-existant rating.

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[–] djfrancophilippe 11 years ago

*sigh* IDIOT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

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[–] The_TJT 9 years ago

I gave this movie a 3. The plot is muddled to the point of excess.

Good guy pretending to be bad guy
vs. bad guy pretending to be good guy and turns into good guy...maybe.

That's not good scripting, that's a "WTF is going on?" plot.

Throw in the lack of backstory into the characters' motives for being who they are and it's get a mess to get through.

I agree about muddled plot and poor development of characters. Has probably lots to do with editing. I think poorly structured storytelling is symptomatic for Hong Kong films in general.

However, imo this film is rather gritty and moody so to speak; the film is pretty atmospheric which I think is its strength in cinematic sense. I rated it a 6, same as "Departed", which also suffers from frankly illogical story.

As for why someone would rate this as a 1 then... I guess some may want to influence the average... and has to be also noted that (too) many here seem to think IMDB rating is not a scale from 1 to 10 - but a choice between 1 or 10 instead...

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[–] acousticjoe92 17 years ago

So what if some people gave it a 1? Most of you pretend-intellectuals gave The Departed a 1 just because it's a remade of a foreign movie, because it's made in Hollywood and because it had just the greatest cast ever, not to mention critical success.

You kids think that you're so smart because you believe Hollywood and critically acclaimed movies are overrated and because you think foreign movies are good?

I've seen a lot of fake intellectuals on this very board call other people "idiots" just because they think The Departed is better than Internal Affairs. If you're so smart why do you feel the need to call another person an "idiot" just because he/she disagrees with you? If you're so smart why do you feel the need to even argue with someone who, in your opinion, is an idiot?

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[–] Jordiuly 17 years ago

No one here has said that The Departed deserves a 1. That would be stupid; they are basically the same movie. So my intention with this post was to understand what makes a movie becomes a 50 top movie. We have two versions of one movie, both are really good (this is the reason why people argue about which is better), but one version is the 42 of all time, and the other is the 234, both are incredible positions considering all the good movies made along the history; but, of course, there is a difference. Is easy to understand why The Departed is considered a better movie: today, the departed have 159000 votes and Mou gaan dou only 22500; also we must have in mind that Mou gaan dou is a trilogy, but the others two movies don't have more that 4000 votes. So The Departed is shorter (it's like three movies in one), have a lot of (supposed to be) good actors (most of them really are good actors), and you aren't forced to read subtitles to see the movie. But what I cannot understand is why people who think The Departed deserves a 9, think Mou gaan dou deserves a 1; and vice versa of course.

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[–] henri25 17 years ago

Spot on! Couldn't agree more, Jordiuly,

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[–] Dragon_Eye_Morrison 17 years ago

Don't give too much importance to silly movie ratings in a web page, ratings usually given by lazy people and at random.

"I believe the common character of the universe is not harmony, but hostility, chaos and murder."

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[–] panisbread 17 years ago

Just to clarify, the plot DOES get muddled in IA, but only when you get to the sequels. There is nothing really wrong with the original, but if you want more back story, then you need the sequels.

And second, while "The Departed" had an all-star heavy swinging cast to back the film, you have to consider that IA pulled every single big name in Hong Kong to make this film. The budget for this was so huge, just because they had to bring in Andy Lau, Tony Leung, Anthony Wong, Eric Tsang, Edison Chen, et al. These guys have a huge repertoire in the Asian film industry that many moviegoers don't realize. So in terms of matching talent, it's pretty much the same in that category.

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[–] tnzk 17 years ago

And second, while "The Departed" had an all-star heavy swinging cast to back the film, you have to consider that IA pulled every single big name in Hong Kong to make this film. The budget for this was so huge, just because they had to bring in Andy Lau, Tony Leung, Anthony Wong, Eric Tsang, Edison Chen, et al. These guys have a huge repertoire in the Asian film industry that many moviegoers don't realize. So in terms of matching talent, it's pretty much the same in that category.

I agree with this.

In fact, I'd argue that Infernal Affairs had a bigger star-studded cast than The Departed. Most Westerners don't realize just how huge these stars are, since their fame is mostly kept within Asian territory.

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[–] darkeval 16 years ago

That's a good point. Back story.

I watched "The Departed" first, without knowing it was a remake, and having high expectations because of high ratings and star actors. (I even bought the movie before having watched it, something I usually never do, because I tend to regret it after wards.) I didn't like the movie at all, because of bad character development, everything was too much paced and rushed all the time. (Something which made the ending very poor.) And not my kind of humor, some of the jokes and scenes in the beginning of the movie were really lame, and reminded me more of a TV movie. Also I never could stand Matt Damon, and he was really annoying in this movie. I usually don't hold anything against Leonardo Di Caprio, but this wasn't one of his better performances. Jack Nicholson is one of my favorite actors, but his performance in this one could have been much better. Mark Wahlberg did great, but not enough to save this movie. According to my rating system this makes "The Departed" score a 3 (coming close to 4), on level with "Spiderman". (Both 3 and 4 in my book are movies I did not enjoy watching, but they weren't bad enough for me to turn off my TV or walk away, although I had considered it.)

Then I discovered the "Infernal Affairs" Trilogy, which "The Departed" was based upon. I thought IA 1 was okay, because it had a lot more character development, and more tension than "The Departed", although not as much as I would like. A little bit rushed at times, but not nearly as much as in "The Departed". The action was thrilling, also a lot more than "The Departed". Humor was great. Which made this movie a 7 on my scale, which means the enjoyment was enough to make this movie definitely re-watchable (otherwise it would be a 6), but not enough for it to be worth buying (which would've gotten it up to a 8).

I watched the sequels on cable after wards, and I was in for a treat. IA 2 had my kind of pace which reminded me of the first part of "Godfather 2", with good character development and anti-climaxes to make the climaxes. Also it had everything IA 1 had. Something that made this movie better and pushed it to an 8 from me. IA 3 was even better, with great humor, character development and excellent performances beating the stars of "The Departed" down in the dust. The scenes at the shrink's office made me laugh (in a good way) so much they almost pushed my rating to a 9 (Must-have's). The 3rd in this trilogy is so good I'm gonna buy the whole lot when I see them in the dvd shop, and watch them again.

"The Departed" on the other hand is gonna collect dust for a long time in my collection.

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[–] Banjo_oz 16 years ago

I gave IA a 9 out of 10. I gave The Departed (just saw it today) a 4 out of 10; on its own, it probably deserves a 6, but I can't believe how over-rated it is (around the 55th movie of ALL time?! Even IA doesn't deserve that spot, IMO, and it's both the original and a better film.

It really annoys me that they remake these films so soon after and most fans of the remake will never know it IS a remake (or bother to watch the original).

That said, Hollywood remaking IA is no less a travesty than Hollywood remaking their OWN films over and over.

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[–] 16 years ago

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[–] mjr1114 16 years ago

ARE YOU SERIOUS? This was NOT the greatest cast EVER. Not by a long shot. Grow up. Have you ever heard of Gone With The Wind, The Deer Hunter, Heat, The Women (original version), Platoon, It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World, Glen Gary Glenn Ross, Hero (jet li), Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon, House of Flying Daggers, Infernal Affairs...need I go on?

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[–] puschit-1 16 years ago

I fail to see why a big star cast makes a movie automatically better. Even the biggest star can have bad moments or bad scripts to work with. Watch "The Contract" for example, Morgan Freeman and John Cusack are very good actors and so far every movie they were in was fantastic, so I thought, if they play together, the movie must be some good but The Contract was total BS. Otoh there are movies out there that don't have a single well known actor but are very good movies. This has mostly to do with the fact that there are way too many actors out there to remember them all. Plus, people tend to be lazy, they just stick to what they are used to. Oh and many people can't seperate actors from the characters they play, especially if actors are typecasted alot. Syvester Stallone for example ... can anyone honestly say he is a good actor? He is just popular because he played cool characters like Rocky. While other actors like Rutger Hauer don't get the international respect they deserve because they are always casted for goofy characters in strange movies.

Gah, I could rant on forever on things like these. Yes, TD had a good cast of well known western actors. IF had also a big cast, if not bigger by eastern standards. But this alone does not make either movie superior. It's the actual performance that counts, folks.

I mean, if a star laden cast would be THE factor to determine the quality of a movie, then "Mars Attacks!" would be #1 of the IMDB charts ...

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[–] KingOfEverything 16 years ago

I do slightly prefer The Departed to Infernal Affairs. I gave them 8 and 7 respectively. I think that The Departed is a better made film, and it feels more complete and well rounded.

I did like Infernal Affairs, but having seen The Departed first, I may have been slightly less interested because I knew what was going to happen.

It's slightly harsh to call people idiots for not liking IA and liking TD. Yes, TD is a remake, but I think it has a completely different feel to it. IA feels like a Michael Mann to me, and I guess if you prefer Scorsese's style, like I do, you are going to prefer The Departed. Simple.

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[–] wtplove 16 years ago

Just remember guys, without Infernal Affairs The Departed would not exist.

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[–] be-fi 16 years ago

good point... made me overthing my votes and setting IA superior...nonetheless, both are great great pieces of cinema...

"facts are stupid things" - Ronald Reagan

http://www.imdb.com/mymovies/list?l=34854488

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[–] Blade78979 16 years ago

I doubt The Departed is rated very highly in China.

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[–] hiren_vekaria 16 years ago

I like cabbages with my salad.

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[–] shadow2351jl 16 years ago

Firstly I have to say I LOVED this movie. It had been a long time since a movie had me SO emotionally invested in a character as I was with Chen Wing Yan. I rate this movie very highly and recommend it to as many people as I can.

I saw the movie at a time when I had (and still have)lost any faith in Hollywood movies (shambolic stories, no emotion, hashy remakes and sequel-tastic) , there seems to have been very few decent and noteworthy movies to come out of Hollywood in the last decade or so.

So, when it comes to The Departed, having seen IA first and loving it so much, I refuse to watch the movie. Simply because, as far as I'm concerned;

1. There was no need for the remake (Hollywood being lazy and unoriginal or lazy Westerners (Delete as appropriate))

2. There is no way I feel the movie could be improved upon.

As for the Oscar (jeeez, don't get me started), I feel its an insult to the makers of IA to have Departed receive so much acclaim when we fail to acknowledge the original for the fantastic piece of film-making it is.

We (Westerners)NEED to be more open to foreign films and try to embrace them rather than being pig ignorant and lazy, and just remaking them.

Learn to read and watch at the same time, you'll be pleasantly surprised.

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[–] darkmorph 15 years ago

I just recently rewatched this movie on blueray and I understand the story much better now. The subtitles were much better. I first saw the movie 4-5 years and I think it was an Asian dvd and the subtitles weren't that good so I didn't understand the movie that well. I find that many Asian movies when they're first released have really bad subtitles. Maybe the people who give the film a 1 star rating have only seen the crappy subtitles and didn't understand the story so they just think the movie plot is garbage and 1 star it.

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