Infernal Affairs
Director: Andrew Lau
Year: 2002
Rating: 8.0
This film moves sleekly
through its many plot twists and steps gingerly over plot holes like a parade
of high profile fashion models on the catwalk. It moves gracefully with an
occasional dramatic stop and seductive turn that never really allows you
to think about it too deeply – it just looks good and feels even better.
It is a film for grownups too – the four main stars are all veteran actors
that allow you to sit back and watch how real actors go about their work.
It is a pleasure. It is glossy, it is smooth and in truth this partly blinds
you to the script implausibilities that surround the story – it is to some
degree a plot built on sand. This is what makes it rather odd that Hollywood
purchased the remake rights – which basically comes down to a concept that
is more than a little farfetched.
Director Andrew Lau along with co-director Alan Mak tread into territory
that has largely been reserved by Johnnie To – a suspenseful noir like intrigue
between cops and triads – and they do it with enough flash and grit to make
To proud. This is a quickly paced cat and mouse game between strong personalities
on both sides of the law – but it is more along the lines of the commercially
viable Running Out of Time than the morose dark The Longest Nite. From the
ultimate schlockmeister of such glitz as Sausalito, A Man Called Hero and
Legend of Speed, this is a welcome surprise. He still brings along his slick
style and cinematic eye – but he finally makes a film in which the characters
seem real, conflicted and with shades of colors rather than comic book personalities.
Anthony Wong recruits a police trainee (Shawn Yu as a young man and Tony
Leung Chiu-wai as an adult) and instructs him to infiltrate the triads as
a mole. At nearly the same time the head of one of the triad gangs, Eric
Tsang in blonde bullet head form, has a young triad wannabe (Edison Chen
as a young man and Andy Lau as an adult) join the police force. Over the
next number of years the two bosses stand back and watch their man gain a
measure of success and rise in the power structure. Lau has become the right
hand man to Anthony Wong and Leung one of Tsang’s top lieutenants – a bit
contrived no doubt but necessary for what takes place next.
During a chess like move/counter move police operation to catch Tsang’s gang
red handed with a cache of drugs, it becomes apparent to both groups that
the other has a mole buried within. It now becomes a frantic race to see
who can identify the mole first and at the same time protect their own man.
Both Leung and Lau coolly go about this knowing that if they lose this game
the likely outcome will be death or imprisonment. Both actors give very solid
performances – Lau sleek as always with a determined hard edged intensity,
while Leung is a bit easier going on the outside with a sympathetic streak,
but still tough as nails inside.
What binds the two men is a hatred for the double lives they have been forced
into and a pained need to escape it. Excellent support comes from Wong and
Tsang – these two manage to make their smaller roles quite memorable. Not
really so for Kelly Chan and Sammi Cheng – their minor roles really serve
little purpose besides giving the protagonists a softer side and giving the
film some marquee pizzazz.
The film breezes by quickly and engages the viewer from the start to the
intriguing finish and even with some fuzzy scriptwriting it is very satisfying.
Though a cop and triad drama, it contains very little action and is primarily
a character study – a battle of wills and wits that someone has to lose –
and the viewer is put in the uncomfortable predicament of not really wanting
either of them to lose this game.
