"Infernal Affairs" (Movie Review)

I just finished watching (finally) "Infernal Affairs", an EXCELLENT detective film that would give Michael Mann a run for his money.

My friend Matt lent it to me a few months ago and I just haven't had the chance to watch it. Tonight I did, and I really am glad that I took the time to do so because it was superb. I really was pleasantly surprised because it was a "real movie" with plot, deep character development and more. The acting was excellent, there was very little "gun play" that can often kill the depth of movies, making them too "Hollywoodesque", and the characters were very deep (and troubled).

The film opens with a big boss named Sam sending off his youngest lieutenants to infiltrate the Hong Kong Police Academy. This is part of a long-term strategy aimed at keeping tabs on what the long arm of the law is up to. Ten years later, one of Sam's would-be spies, Ming, is now a sergeant in the Organized Crime and Triad Bureau and he is secretly undermining the efforts by Superintendent Wong to bring down Sam's crime empire. However, what Ming doesn't realize is that Wong has infiltrated Sam's organization with a mole of his own-- Yan, a cop who has spent the past decade working his way up to Sam's number-two man.

Events kick into high gear during a tense sequence in which the police try to thwart one of Sam's drug deals. As the deal goes down, Yan secretly transmits the details to Wong while Ming sends coded messages to his boss keeping him apprised of what the police are up to. Though the bust ends with a stalemate, both sides end up realizing that there is a mole in their respective organizations. Thus, the undercover cop and the undercover criminal become caught up in trying to identify each other while keeping their own identities secret.

Unlike most films in the Hong Kong cops-and-triads genre, "Infernal Affairs" is an intelligently plotted thriller oozing of subtlety. The two main characters, Ming and Yan, despite being on opposite sides of the law, are very similar in that they both find themselves trapped by their circumstances. While Yan wants out after having put ten years of his life on hold to infiltrate Sam's gang, Ming secretly wishes to become a real cop and leave his triad days behind him. In fact, Ming ends up being the most fascinating and complex character in the film, as his desire to turn over a new leaf compels him to commit new crimes in order to bury his past ones.

If you like these kinds of movies, and want to try a subtitled foreign film for a change to get away from the hollywood glitz and "over the top" pyrotechnics that usually go with gun-toting good-guy/bad-guy flicks, give this a try.

Thanks, Matt!

I love you!

Cam