Rent Infernal Affairs on Amazon Video (paid link)
Written by: Alan Mak & Felix Chong
Directed by: Andrew Lau, Alan Mak
Starring: Andy Lau, Tony Leung, Anthony Wong, Eric Tsang, Sammi Cheng, Kelly Chen, Chapman To, Gordon Lam
Rated: R
Watch the trailer
Plot
A mole in the police department for the Triad and an undercover cop infiltrating the Triad have the same objective: find the double agent.
Verdict
It's an absolutely great story which was later remade as The Departed. A cop and a criminal infiltrate a gang and the police to feed their respective bosses information. How do you prevent yourself from becoming lost in the role? How do you maintain your sanity when one wrong move could be your death? It's a cat and mouse game with unbelievable tension. Every scene holds a secret that could get a character killed. This is a thriller from start to finish as you just never know what's going to happen.
Watch It.
Review
This was the first film in a trilogy, and Martin Scorsese remade the film four years later as The Departed. That's one of my all time favorite movies, so I had to see the original inspiration. The Departed is basically a remake, lifting the plot and nearly all of the scenes. It does add context and some explanation which are helpful. The characters are also more developed or at least more over the top and memorable. I'd probably like this more if I hadn't seen The Departed numerous times first. It's difficult not to think how The Departed did these scenes, but this did come first. As much as I like The Departed, this one deserves all of the credit.
While various websites list the name as Chan, the only time his name appears on screen, on a computer monitor, it is listed as Chen.
This wastes no time jumping into the plot. Chen (Tony Leung) is a young police recruit the bosses want to go undercover. He was told it would be a three year operation, but ten years later he's no closer to getting out. When he complains, his handler threatens to erase the file that proves he's a cop. If you've been acting like a gangster for ten years, at what point are you considered one?
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| Andy Lau, Tony Leung play Senior Inspector Lau Kin-ming, Chen Wing-yan |
Lau (Andy Lau) is an operative for the gang that has made it onto the police force. Two men are on opposite sides of the law while trying to infiltrate each other's organization. Chen is trying to acquire information for the bosses while Lau is trying to block it. During an operation in which they're both involved, Lau tries to feed information to Boss Sam while evading his lieutenant. Lau knows the lieutenant is getting information from somewhere, but he's not sure how when there are no phones. It turns out Chen is using Morse code and a well placed speaker near the window. We see that just before Lau realizes it. At the same time, both men are risking their safety. If either of them are found out the consequences would be dire.
This is intense from nearly the beginning. A cop plays a criminal, and a criminal plays a cop. They're both playing a role. After ten years, how do you not become the role? Lau gets a promotion, giving him resources to find the spy in Boss Sam's organization; that's Chen. It also gives him power to legitimize himself as a police officer and distance himself from Boss Sam.
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| Andy Lau, Tony Leung play Senior Inspector Lau Kin-ming, Chen Wing-yan |
A secret creates intensity and anticipation. Every scene in this movie has a secret. One wrong move, one push too far could end Lau or Chen. Their job is to get information, but that could also be the end if anyone begins to suspect them. Lau starts to become his role. He reaches a point where he wants to stop Boss Sam to protect his own future. He crosses Boss Sam and comes out the hero for stopping a crime lord. Chen doesn't have the ability to look like a hero. He looks like a criminal, so he must be a criminal.
Scorsese's remake plays up the son angle for the Lau and Boss Sam characters. In The Departed that hurts the Lau character more when he discovers he wasn't the only mole and as special as he thought. The remake unpacks a lot of what's happening between the lines. It's more emotional, and that's a positive thing as it explores and extrapolates characters feelings.
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