Dir.
Andrew Lau, Alan Mak, 2003, Hong Kong, 119 mins
Cast:
Anthony Wong, Eric Tsang, Francis Ng, Hu Jun
Having assumed control of his clan, a Triad boss aims to secure underworld supremacy in 1990s Hong Kong. However, one of his most devious enemies has escaped his cull, while he remains oblivious to the presence of a police mole within his inner circle.
There has been a surge in popularity for more action-oriented foreign film in the last few years. To say the genre has grown is not exactly correct, but it has achieved a presence, and the general public have gained more respect for it perhaps as a result of the abundance of high-octane films in commercial cinema. Since the beginning of the new millennium, western audiences can finally sample a taste of the refreshing movie making that the east has seen for many years. Films that have advertised the eastern culture in western films have helped this. In Kill Bill, Quentin Tarantino reawakened the kung-fu films of the seventies in yellow and red, with the help of kung-fu legend himself, David Carradine. The Last Samurai also flogged a more meaningful way of life in 19th century Japan, starring Hong Kong idol Ken Wantanbe. This has paved the way for re-releases of critically acclaimed pieces including Kurosawa's Seven Samurai and Ozu's Tokyo Story. Perhaps this proves that the public want foreign films with action, marked particularly by the success of 'Beat' Takeshi's take on the folklore tale of the blind warrior in Zatoichi.
Being a prequel to the highly successful Hong Kong thriller that could give Hollywood a run for its money any day, you would think that the producers of Infernal Affairs II would have kept to the same formula, playing safe with what made them money. But this film, the second in the Infernal Affairs trilogy (the other being a sequel to the original) explores what happened to Ming (Chen) and Yan (Yue) up until the point of the first film.
The original Ming and Chen characters played by Andy Lau and Tony Leung Chiu-wai have been replaced with the younger Edison Chen and Shawn Yue, and with this Hollywood makes its usual mistakes. As Hong Kong knows the actors aren't the stars of these films, it's the plot, action and suspense, which all make Infernal Affairs 2 a riveting prequel to a fiery original. With a third part already made, and a Hollywood revamp on its way (with the already attached Martin Scorcese to direct), we can surely say that the Infernal Affairs franchise will be with us for some time to come.
Matthew Clarke
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