Infernal Affairs I

There are some very good reviews already posted about "Infernal Affairs", although they got some minor facts wrong (such as which actor played which role). This review will look at differences between this film and "The Departed"--for Scorsese fans who enjoyed his version and now wonder if they should see the original.Yes, they should see the original.Scorsese did a remake which followed the original storyline closely. Scorsese's style, as always, is marvelous. His work is more controlled than usual--no digressions into extended violent scenes (as in Casino, although "The Departed" film is much more violent than "Infernal Affairs"), no plot diversions into draft riots during the Civil War...etc.However, the Scorsese film--which I enjoyed and was his best film in years--left me unsatisfied, while "Infernal Affairs" was extremely satisfying. Both films are tragedies, but the drama is far more deeply felt (for me) in "Infernal Affairs" than in "The Departed".Why?The answer lies in the difference in approach between the film making cultures of Hong Kong and Hollywood. Between what each culture feels the audience wants. Between the pressures of a higher budget and bigger stars. Scorsese, whether the actors asked for it or not, clearly felt a need to give the principal actors meatier roles. The film brothers who made the Hong Kong original only wanted to get the job done--a crisp story that did what it needed to, and then got out.The Hollywood version takes a lot of time to provide additional detail to the story to flesh out the characters and give them showy scenes. "The Departed" runs about forty minutes longer than "Infernal Affairs". It adds a love interest (which really goes nowhere) and a lot of character details. Probably worse...SPOILER ALERT SPOILER ALERT...the Scorsese film attempts "justice" at the end. It is perhaps an American need to tie up loose ends, to make things right. Maybe it is the pressure stemming from a bigger budget, and needing to satisfy a larger audience. But dramatically, the Hong Kong version had it much better.REALLY SPOILERS, REALLY! DON'T READ IF YOU HAVEN'T SEEN THE DEPARTED!!!! STOP!!! WHAT'S WRONG WITH YOU???In the Scorsese version, an additional character, played by Mark Whalberg, is added to create justice--someone, in the end, to bump off the Matt Damon character. The problem with this is dual. First, it creates a huge plot hole--if Whalberg is around, then there is someone to prove that the DiCaprio character is really a cop, so much of how the film ends simply makes no sense at all. DiCaprio does not need to get Damon to prove he is an undercover cop if Whalberg is around. And, why does Whalberg remain in the background instead of going directly to his superiors? Why does DiCaprio not seek out Whalberg?No, sorry Marty. None of it really works. Whalberg is only there to kill Damon in the end.But this is very misguided. I personally felt a lot of involvement with the DiCaprio character. When the bad stuff happened to him, I felt the tragedy, but when Whalberg bumps off Damon, I felt cheated.If the movie was going after justice, why not just have an ending with DiCaprio living? But this is the big budget American idea of entertainment, I guess--a more or less happy ending, even if it completely screws up the story.So while I enjoyed the film, I walked out unsatisfied.Then I watched, a few days ago, the Chinese original. The ending is far more cynical, and as a result works a lot better. There is no Whalberg character, no big plot hole. In addition, the film was faster and cleaner, much less showy. No bigger role for Nicholson to strut his stuff. No extraneous love interest. Not as much explicit violence to give the audience a cheap thrill.Less Hollywood over the top and pandering to the audience was what makes "Infernal Affairs" the superior film--and one worth buying, as you'll never see it on tv.Oh well, guess this means Scorsese will send Joe Pesci after me!

Good story, great writing, directing and acting. The story telling is compact and not a frame is wasted. Can’t ask for more than these in a good movie.

It is a shame that the translation in subtitles is not optimal and that the dubbed voices lack the emotional qualities of the actors supposedly talking. Cantonese is beautiful to listen to but when this film was dubbed the emotions and nuances were eliminated. The actors in this film did a great job and if you can only understand English you are missing a lot.That being said I think Hollywood has tried to rip off this movie already once (why not, there are at least 2 sequels in Hong Kong) but did not succeed.The story is great and you have great actors in the top 4 roles giving good, intense acting jobs. This film is about good and evil and that the difference is only by an individual's perspective. This film is really about perceptions as much as "The Matrix" was, except it shows you both sides of the perspective as equal. Never has such an intellectual movie been done as entertainment or a police / crime story although the alternate ending lessens the actual movie. Check out the alternate ending only to see that Mr. Lau (yes he is one of the stars) chose the correct ending.One last thing, I think Americans could have used a little more screen time for Kelly Chen (the therapist) so that they could find out about her talent.

This film is the original Hong Kong film which has become a classic in not only Asian cinema, but also crime suspense thrillers as well. Most of you already know that the story of undercover gangsters and cops infiltrating each other was magnificently written that Martin Scorsese optioned the rights and remade the an American version called The Departed starring Jack Nicholson, Matt Damon, and Leonardo DiCaprio. While the remake is very good on it's own, anyone who has seen this original version will tell you this original still stands head and shoulders above Scorsese's excellent remake. Infernal Affairs is more suspenseful, tighter, and packs a much greater emotional wallop thanks to the excellent acting of Tony Leung Chiu Wai as the undercover cop suffering from a long and extremely dangerous assignment as the number 2 in the Triad group (very reminiscent of his equally strong performance in a nearly identical role in John Woo's Hardboiled). The handling of the OCTB Chief who is the only one who knows Leung's true identity as an undercover cop is equally handled with finesse and drama by Hong Kong veteran Anthony Wong. His nemesis, the Triad leader played expertly by Eric Tsang is equally amazing to watch. The heat between Wong and Tsang is beautifully generated in a scene at the police station and is unrivaled by any of the scenes in the Departed by the parallel American actors Martin Sheen and Jack Nicholson. For anyone who has seen and enjoyed The Departed, or just anyone who enjoys a crackerjack crime suspense thriller, this film is an absolute must see.