I think what bothers me is that it feels like they're pretending the original never existed or at least was overlooked to a great extent (3 years old!!!) and that that is a good thing. It's sort of offensive if you liked or were invested in the original.

It feels like Chris Rock really liked the original and wanted to remake it for himself. It's not his first remake. Are you offended by The Departed, or Insomnia?

The Maltese Falcon was remade three times in a ten year period. I don't see it as a big deal.

Nope, but I didn't know of/weren't invested in those movies.

I'm not offended by The Departed, exactly, but it irritates me that it's an inferior version of a much better movie.

I would agree. I saw "The Departed" first and saw the original after and I'm like, "damn. they busted up the original movie big time."

The original is Infernal Affairs, right? Because I loved The Departed. Now I really want to see the original, if it's better.

Yes, Infernal Affairs. Tony Leung. Woof.

If you like the original, or are interested in just the characters/situations and therefore want to play around with it by adapting it -- if that's eclipsing or intentionally obliterating the original, then fanfiction is offensive, too.

I disagree that fan fiction, written by amateurs, is on the same level as a professional remake, but I don't think this is a conversation I'm interested in having.

I thought The Departed was pretty good, but Infernal Affairs was really good. If I hadn't known about the original, I'd have been fairly happy. But the existence of the latter movie doesn't make me like the former less, and it's possible that it will make more people see the former--I doubt it will make fewer see it.

And this whole discussion just made me add Infernal Affairs to my Netflix queue, and in fact, I should own it.