Traitors, traitors everywhere. This Hong Kong blockbuster shows us how Cop dramas should be done.
Infernal Affairs review
- 44
- 0
15th March 2004
Adds a few embellishments to the cops vs. mobsters genre that makes it more thought provoking than the usual throwaway nonsense. While Lau (Tony Leung) is busy infiltrating the mobsters on behalf of the police, Ming (Andy Lau) is an undercover gangster working his way up the police ranks allowing his boss Sam (Eric Tsang) to stay one step ahead of other mobsters and the police. The usual undercover cop torment of the 'good guy in a gangsters role' is given an novel counterpoint by Ming's doubts over his choice of lifestyle, although it also packs enough action into it's tightly told story to ensure it doesn't become a rambling treatise on the nature of being. The cast list is a who's who of the HK A-list and all perform to their high expectations with Wai Keung Lau directing some of the best action since John Woo's neutering at Hollywoods hands, with any deaths on either side feeling as though they have real consequence compared to the astronomical body counts of some efforts. Highly recommended.
