Pi in the Sky

Infernal Affairs

Posted on April 20th, 2007 at 7:07am by Pi.
Categories: Cinema.

Infernal Affairs
Thriller. Hong Kong, 2002 (as Mou Gaan Dou)
Directors: Wai Keung Lau & Siu Fai Mak
Writers: Felix Chong & Siu Fai Mak
Cast: Tony Leung, Anthony Wong, Andy Lau

I was absolutely surprised when I watched this movie yesterday. It’s excellent in many ways, and absolutely recommended.

I don’t even remember how I reached to the IMDb page, but I remember thinking that it was strange that this movie was in the IMDb Top 250. It didn’t sound familiar, but I always liked police thriller coming from asian countries. The thing is, despite the coarse poster (which has nothing to do with the movie), it caught my attention. So I put it down in my list of interesting movies to watch, and after a few days, I watched it.

The plot: Two young police cadets take different roads after finishing academy. One becomes secret agent, and the other works in the police as a mole for the local mafia. After some years, the secret agent works undercover for the drug lord, while the mole policeman is in the anti-drug unit which tries to catch that drug lord.

At first I was a bit desoriented, I didn’t know if the movie was japanese or corean, or what to expect. The beginning is slightly indefined. Actually, you don’t realize very well who’s the good boy and who’s the bad until a bit in the movie. There are a few strange things, and that’s counting that I’m accustomed to asian cinema. But very soon I was caught by the quality of the movie. It’s not just a police action movie in Hong Kong, with cheap actors and crappy script.

Quickly I noticed Tony Leung, who does a magnificent job, althought I didn’t recognize him from his role in Hero. Actually, all actors do it well, and the ambientation is greatly done. The script keeps the thrill continuously, except in the little pauses in which they momentaneously take us away from the main plot, to dive into the little banalities which are part of the character’s lifes. And it reminds us that these characters, both policemen but antagonist, in the end they’re persons with private life.

The plot takes some twists along the movie (about 100 minutes of length), with some unexpected moments, but always paying attention to the character’s emotivity, and their actions and decisions. There’s action and tension, but also very good dramatic moments, with sensibility, but not cheesy. I’ll not spoil a thriller movie giving details, I’ll just say that it has been a long time since a police movie surprised and pleased me so much. Still, I’ll also say that the rhythm of the movie is a little bit irregular. Although it’s never boring, there are some moments which were slightly bland. But in general, the movie is very entertaining.

My punctuation: 7/10. Good to watch and rewatch.

As a final note, I’ll mention that The Departed, the recent Scorsese’s return to quality, is a western remake of this movie. I haven’t seen it yet, but if it’s as good as Infernal Affairs, I’ll love it.

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