Advanced Search >
Help Me Search

Movies

Weekend Box Office
Film Awards & Top 10s By Year
All-Time High Scores
All-Time Low Scores

Wide Releases
Now In Theaters

sort by namesort by score

Stars indicate the most critically-acclaimed movies.

Limited Releases
Now In Theaters

sort by namesort by score

58 (Untitled)
96 35 Shots of Rum
56 Adam
72 Adela
39 Adventures of Power
78 Afghan Star
61 After the Storm
66 Afterschool
xx All the Best
58 American Casino
72 Amreeka
48 Antichrist
73 Araya
62 Art & Copy
55 As Seen Through These Eyes
76 Baader Meinhof Complex, The
86 Beaches of Agnes, The
13 Beautiful Life, A
70 Beeswax
35 Beyond a Reasonable Doubt
71 Big Fan
66 Black Dynamite
51 Blind Date
xx Blind Pig Who Wants to Fly
76 Bliss
35 Blue Tooth Virgin, The
26 Boondock Saints II: All Saints Day, The
57 Boys Are Back, The
45 Brief Interviews with Hideous Men
81 Bright Star
70 Bronson
45 Burning Plain, The
xx Carriers
55 Casi Divas
57 Chelsea on the Rocks
62 Cloud 9
65 Coco Before Chanel
69 Cold Souls
59 Collapse
44 Confessionsofa Ex-Doofus-ItchyFooted Mutha
82 Cove, The
75 Crude
82 Damned United, The
67 Departures
xx Dil Bole Hadippa
71 Disgrace
xx Do Knot Disturb
70 Earth Days
24 Eating Out 3: All You Can Eat
85 Education, An
55 Endgame
xx Eulogy for a Vampire
xx Everyone Else
xx Fatal Promises
56 Fifty Dead Men Walking
62 Five Minutes of Heaven
74 Flame & Citron
49 Food Beware: The French Organic Revolution
80 Food, Inc.
28 Free Style
xx From Mexico with Love
50 Fuel
25 Gentlemen Broncos
50 Give Me Your Hand
58 Gogol Bordello Non-Stop
72 Good Hair
89 Goodbye Solo
52 Grace
66 Harmony and Me
81 Headless Woman, The
xx Heretics, The
63 Horse Boy, The
73 House of the Devil, The
xx How to Seduce Difficult Women
74 Humpday
94 Hurt Locker, The
29 I Hope They Serve Beer in Hell
16 If One Thing Matters: A Film About Wolfgang Tillmans
75 In Search of Beethoven
83 In the Loop
61 Intimate Enemies
42 Irene in Time
70 It Might Get Loud
46 Killing Kasztner
19 Labor Day
xx Laila's Birthday
41 Little Ashes
41 Little Traitor, The
66 Liverpool
34 Looking for Palladin
80 Lorna's Silence
83 Maid, The
xx Ministers, The
59 More Than a Game
67 Most Dangerous Man in America: Daniel Ellsberg and the Pentagon Papers, The
34 Motherhood
62 My One and Only
xx Mystery Team
48 New York, I Love You
73 Night and Day
66 No Impact Man
47 Ong Bak 2: The Beginning
34 Other Man, The
xx Painter Sam Francis, The
54 Paper Heart
xx Paradise
68 Paranormal Activity
68 Paris
44 Peter and Vandy
35 Play the Game
77 Precious: Based on the Novel by Sapphire
xx Pretty Ugly People
65 Providence Effect, The
76 Rembrandt's J'accuse
69 September Issue, The
79 Serious Man, A
40 Shrink
61 Skin
77 Skin Too Few: The Days of Nick Drake, A
xx Skiptracers
46 Splinterheads
39 St. Trinian's
89 Still Walking
50 Stoning of Soraya M., The
55 Storm
65 Tetro
70 That Evening Sun
72 Thirst
xx Tim Burton's The Nightmare Before Christmas 3D (re-release)
61 Trucker
xx Turning Green
83 U2 3D
66 Unmade Beds
66 Unmistaken Child
70 Visual Acoustics
55 Walt & El Grupo
67 Way We Get By, The
69 We Live in Public
64 Wedding Song, The
64 Where is Where?
xx White on Rice
74 Woman in Berlin, A
69 World's Greatest Dad
70 Yes Men Fix the World
69 Yoo-Hoo, Mrs. Goldberg
xx You, the Living

Stars indicate the most critically-acclaimed movies.

Infernal Affairs

EMAILPRINTMiramax Films

Infernal Affairs reviews
75
9.4 User Score:

Generally favorable reviews

Based on 19 critic reviews
How did we calculate this?

Based on 21 votes
Read user comments
Rate this movie >

Movie Info

Genre(s): Action  |  Crime  |  Drama  |  Foreign  |  Suspense/Thriller

Written by: Alan Mak
Felix Chong

Directed by: Andrew Lau
Alan Mak

Release Date:
Theatrical: September 24, 2004
DVD: December 7, 2004

Running Time: 101 minutes, Color

Origin: Hong Kong

Summary

RATING: R for violence

Starring Tony Leung, Andy Lau, Anthony Wong, Eric Tsang, Chapman To, Lam Ka Tung, Ng Ting Yip, and Wan Chi Keung

A tightly wound thriller which centers on two Hong Kong police officers - one a gang mole on the force and the other an undercover cop in the gang - who share the same objectives and who find their destinies intertwined in this high-octane police actioner. (Miramax)

What The Critics Said

All critic scores are converted to a 100-point scale. If a critic does not indicate a score, we assign a score based on the general impression given by the text of the review. Learn more...

100

San Francisco Chronicle G. Allen Johnson

Unfolds as a masterful chess match of wit and ingenuity, a cat-and-mouse chase of the highest order.

Read Full Review >
91

Entertainment Weekly Lisa Schwarzbaum

Dazzling psychological cat-and-mouse drama.

Read Full Review >
88

Rolling Stone Peter Travers

Throbs with action, suspense and a seductive rhythm all its own.

Read Full Review >
88

New York Daily News Jami Bernard

The plot is intricate and tight. The preamble is a bit challenging to sort out. But the movie's engine is the relationships and the characters' inner lives, all of it boiling with emotional intensity.

Read Full Review >
88

Chicago Tribune Allison Benedikt

It's hard to breathe in Andrew Lau and Alan Mak's Infernal Affairs, a relentlessly taut Hong Kong cop thriller that, unlike many of its cinematic peers, doesn't burn off tension in choreographed action sequences.

Read Full Review >
80

Salon.com Stephanie Zacharek

One of the truest American gangster films of all time.

Read Full Review >
80

Chicago Reader J.R. Jones

A runaway hit in Hong Kong, this 2002 crime thriller reinvigorated the genre with its airtight script, taut editing, and sleek cinematography.

Read Full Review >
80

Variety Derek Elley

Pic is superbly honed at both script and performance levels, with character taking precedence over action.

Read Full Review >
80

Village Voice Dennis Lim

Spins in place with aplomb, generating exponentially more vertiginous doublings with each sweaty-palmed set piece.

Read Full Review >
80

The Hollywood Reporter Andrew Sun

Driven by two great performances surrounded by solid supporting acts, Infernal Affairs is the rare testosterone movie that is also mature and thoughtful.

Read Full Review >
75

Premiere Glenn Kenny

This is a real grabber.

Read Full Review >
75

Chicago Sun-Times Roger Ebert

The movie pays off in a kind of emotional complexity rarely seen in crime movies.

Read Full Review >
75

New York Post V.A. Musetto

Overflows with psychological intrigue, something often missing from such offerings.

Read Full Review >
75

USA Today Mike Clark

Viewers who like clean storytelling may not be happy. Those who savor ironic wrap-ups will be.

Read Full Review >
75

The Globe and Mail (Toronto) Liam Lacey

Here is a psychological twister with an implausible and hard-to-follow plot. All of this is more than compensated for by terrific performances, a seductive colour palette that is greenish and glassy, and a minimalist style reminiscent of Michael Mann.

Read Full Review >
70

Newsweek David Ansen

Expect to be confused for 10 minutes. Then sit back and enjoy the ride.

Read Full Review >
70

The New York Times A.O. Scott

The sophistication of the stylized minimalism here in Infernal Affairs is dazzling.

Read Full Review >
60

TV Guide Maitland McDonagh

It should come as no surprise that there's an American remake in the works, starring Leonardo DiCaprio and Matt Damon and directed by Martin Scorsese.

Read Full Review >
40

The New Yorker Anthony Lane

The directors, Andrew Lau and Alan Mak, manage to convince us that we have witnessed an action movie, although in fact the quantity of violence is so minimal that, under Hong Kong law, Infernal Affairs barely qualifies as a motion picture.

Read Full Review >

What Our Users Said

The average user rating for this movie is 9.4 (out of 10) based on 21 User Votes

Note: User votes are NOT included in the Metascore calculation.

Terry gave it a10:
I liked this one better. People don't realize that the Departed is a remake of the Infernal Affairs trilogy. The Departed does take sources from IA 2 and 3. To say that this movie is a rough draft of Departed is downright insulting. WIthout this movie, there goes the Departed as well as Scorsese's career. This movie is much better. The characters are more interesting and this film has more soul than the American counterpart. A much better thriller overall.

Dan B. gave it a6:
It's like a rough draft for The Departed. I think if you've seen The Departed first, this movie won't seem so or as good. If you see this first, maybe it'll play better. They really took all this movie's good elements and sharpened them, played them up, in The Departed. Side note--they use so many English words! And who knew, they play bagpipes in HK. Fascinating.

Burns gave it a10:
Excellent! Pity it got a pathetic carbon copy.

Conga T. gave it a9:
A masterpiece of storyline, cinematography and characterization. A bit of overacting gives it not a perfect ten but nothing real is perfect in this life.

J Davis gave it a10:
The first half of the movie introduces the characters and builds a strong plot, while the second half of the movie is a rollercoaster fulls of twists and suprises.

Chad S. gave it a6:
When Hollywood gets its hands on "Infernal Affairs", one way to avoid slavish imitation, and possibly improve the story, is if they choose the other cop as its switcher of allegiances. "Infernal Affairs" doesn't quite get down-and-dirty enough. We're supposed to like both cops, and that's a problem. Subtitles automatically makes "Infernal Affairs" an art film, but really, it has mainstream intentions which prevents us from getting too acquainted with the interior lives of the conflicted. But as slick entertainment goes, "Infernal Affairs" is mostly winning and should be seen.

[Anonymous] gave it a 10:
One of the best movies i'd ever watched (and im very critical of movies). Its THAT good.

Read more user comments >

Popular on CBS sites: SEC Football | NFL | Video Game Cheats | iPhone | Video Game Reviews | Notebooks | Antivirus Software

About CBS Interactive | Jobs | Advertise

© 2009 CBS Interactive Inc. All rights reserved. | Privacy Policy | Terms of Use