 |
Actors/Actresses |
 |
|
|
|
 |
Categories |
|
|
|
|
"Infernal Affairs" is everything you'd want in a police action thriller: powerhouse performances, Grade A production values, a good script and suspenseful direction.
No wonder Martin Scorsese wants to remake it, with Leonardo DiCaprio and Matt Damon as the leads.
No disrespect to Scorsese and company, but they'll have a hard time equaling the original, which was a massive box-office hit in Asia, had steady business in Europe and has already spawned two sequels.
The concept is simple, yet ingenious: A gangster, Chan (Tony Leung of "Hero"), has been a mole reporting directly to a police superintendent (the incomparable Anthony Wong) for 10 years. Yes, we've seen undercover work before in movies. The twist here is that on the other side, a police lieutenant, Lau (Andy Lau of "House of Flying Daggers"), is really a mole for Chan's boss (Eric Tsang).
The superintendent and the gang boss both know they each have a mole reporting to the other side, they just don't know who. And with a big drug deal as a backdrop, "Infernal Affairs" unfolds as a masterful chess match of wit and ingenuity, a cat-and-mouse chase of the highest order.
Co-director Andrew Lau, a onetime cinematographer (He lit Wong Kar-Wai's first film, "As Tears Go By," in 1988), has time and again breathed life into the Hong Kong film industry with slickly produced yet irresistibly human and entertaining action films such as the "Young and Dangerous" series and "The Storm Riders" (1998), which revolutionized the swordplay genre.
With "Infernal Affairs," which he co-directed with writer Alan Mak, Lau has outdone himself. The directors walk a fluidly edited tightrope between character study and action tour de force.
In this movie, a cell phone or a stray tape recording can be as lethal as a loaded gun.
The film benefits greatly from the charisma of top stars Leung and Andy Lau (no relation to the director) and their love interests (Sammi Cheng and Kelly Chen, stars in their own right who play cameo roles).
As the hero, Leung has the less-interesting role, but convincingly plays a man who has been living a lie too long and is desperate to break free.
As the villain who acts like the hero, Lau has one of the best roles of his long career. His face is a morally ambiguous landscape, a smooth operator who nonetheless is torn between the longtime loyalty he's developed with his colleagues on the police force as well as the gangster who raised him.
Let's see DiCaprio pull that one off.
| Extra Information: |
|
For more information, please visit this related webpage. |
| Article Statistics: |
| Viewed:608 |
|
|
|
|
|
More News 
