X
- 2004
- R
- Miramax
- 1 h 41 m
- 2004
- R
- Miramax
- 1 h 41 m
Summary 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]
Directed By: Andrew Lau, Alan Mak
Written By: Felix Chong, Alan Mak
- 2004
- R
- Miramax
- 1 h 41 m
- 2004
- R
- Miramax
- 1 h 41 m
Infernal Affairs
75
6.3
Summary 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]
Directed By: Andrew Lau, Alan Mak
Written By: Felix Chong, Alan Mak
Top Cast
Metascore
Generally Favorable
Based on 19 Critic Reviews
75
89% Positive
17 Reviews
17 Reviews
11% Mixed
2 Reviews
2 Reviews
0% Negative
0 Reviews
0 Reviews
Metascore
Generally Favorable
Based on 19 Critic Reviews
75
89% Positive
17 Reviews
17 Reviews
11% Mixed
2 Reviews
2 Reviews
0% Negative
0 Reviews
0 Reviews
Unfolds as a masterful chess match of wit and ingenuity, a cat-and-mouse chase of the highest order.
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.
User Score
Generally Favorable
Based on 100 User Ratings
6.3
68% Positive
68 Ratings
68 Ratings
7% Mixed
7 Ratings
7 Ratings
25% Negative
25 Ratings
25 Ratings
User Score
Generally Favorable
Based on 100 User Ratings
6.3
68% Positive
68 Ratings
68 Ratings
7% Mixed
7 Ratings
7 Ratings
25% Negative
25 Ratings
25 Ratings
Perfect movie with an intense story and great acting. Surely one of the best Hongkong movies.
Report
Driven by two great performances surrounded by solid supporting acts, Infernal Affairs is the rare testosterone movie that is also mature and thoughtful.
Viewers who like clean storytelling may not be happy. Those who savor ironic wrap-ups will be.
The sophistication of the stylized minimalism here in Infernal Affairs is dazzling.
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.
ça fait je ne sais combien de fois que je les regarde, les revois et les revisionne et y a pas à tortiller : ces affaires internes sont bel et bien infernales et machiavéliquement écrites !
Un régal de finesse, de rebondissements habilement orchestrés et de doubles jeux dédoublés via les deux acteurs chinois les plus doués de leur génération : Andy Lau et Tony Leung !
La fin surprenante montre pourtant une absence de manichéisme (inutilement) réducteur et délivre à l'inverse les deux faces exactement opposées d'un même miroir, deux faces qui nous sont présentées tout au long du film. Ainsi, Infernal Affairs va plus loin que les gendarmes contre les voleurs et nous fait suivre deux parcours différents et deux personnalités qui ont bien plus de points communs qu'on ne le supposait.
La réalisation et le scénario intelligents nous font ressentir une forte empathie pour le flic et le criminel à la fois criminels et flics ballottés par un cruel et ironique destin. Admirable et remonté avec la précision d'une horloge suisse, ce polar déroule sans forcer et avec brio d'un bout à l'autre.
Report
To compare the Departed with Infernal Affairs is insane. While the story is almost mirror, the style of direction and the cast could not be more night and day. Mainly because there are two different cultures at play here. The Chinese and the U.S.
@DanB. Learn your history. Hong Kong was once a British colony and their entire judicial and law enforcement system is based on the British hence the bagpipes. HK is also an international hub so naturally there's a lot of English. While the majority of HK are Chinese people, they still hold do things the way the British taught them.
Report
Je savais que Les InfiltrÃs Ãtait le remake de cet Infernal Affairs, mais jamais je n'aurais pensà que le film de Martin Scorsese en Ãtait la copie conforme (la moindre scène a Ãtà refaite dans le film amÃricain). De ce fait, cela m'a paru bizarre de regarder ce film hongkongais. Mais heureusement, cela ne m'a pas empêcher d'admirer ce thriller à ça juste valeur! Entrainant, passionnant, haletant, mise en scène avec brio, des personnages interprÃtÃs avec talent... C'est sûr, je prÃfère lÃgèrement Les InfiltrÃs, de part l'immense talent de Scorsese. Mais Infernal Affairs n'est pas à oublier de si tôt non plus!
Report
I've been looking around Rotten Tomatoes to find some negative reviews of 2002's ''Infernal Affairs'' by either critics or the audience, but i cant seem to find any *really* negative reviews (except the 3 rotten scores by critics) so i guess, i'm yet again, back in a dark corner with my opinion on this one.
Me, like many of this films' viewers, watched this film after having seen the wildly succesfull (critically acclaimed, and loved by audiences) Martin Scorsese picture: ''The Departed'' which is the remake/retelling of this story, staring a massive A-list cast, slick style, superb screenwriting, confident directing and an additional 40 minutes to sink your teeth into. It's basically an upgrade in every filmmaking aspect, as you would hope with every remake, which is unfortunately not always the case..
As you can tell, i did not like Infernal Affairs at all, maybe a scene here and there, but as a whole, i was vastly disappointed. If i hadnt have seen The Departed before viewing Infernal Affairs i would have had no clue what this film is about, the only reason i understood what it was about after 40 minutes is because i watched The Departed before seeing this, which resulted in me having some sort of a clue what it was all about, but it really is not clear at all. Which is a perfect segway for my first complaint: The script is not confident of itself and has no clue what it wants to be, it goes all over the place and it feels so disconnected with the audience. Like i said, i got a fair idea what the movie was doing and what it wants to be after a whopping 40 minutes of struggling to know what the hell it was about, and to remind you, i allready saw The Departed, and i still had no clue what it wants to be. When watching the first 40 minutes i thought: ''Well, Scorsese and the screenwriters sure changed a whole lot, it seems a completely different film.''
There are always those people that always claim that the original is better than the remake, even though the remake is an incredible masterpiece. But i really cant take people like that siriously, use your brain, and anyone who has one will clearly see that Scorsese's The Departed is a much superior film than Infernal Affairs, even though you might've liked the original, i think then everyone would agree too that The Departed is the superior film. It has one of the best casts of all time and they all deliver incredible A+ performances, but in the original except maybe the 2 leads, every other character and performance is not memorable. Scorsese has crafted memorable characters out of every character that has a slight role in the film, even the smaller ones, which is an incredible feit. The original does no attempt at trying this, except with the 2 leads, which is poor. The Departed is 40 minutes longer, which is additional runtime it clearly needed because The Departed is a well fleshed-out, coherent, and streamlined script which is engaging, entertaining and thrilling from minute one. Infernal Affairs however, is disjoint, unclear of itself, confusing, badly paced, and incoherent at many points in the film, neither is it thrilling nor that entertaining, which is a shame.
The only thing i can praise wholeheartedly is that the ending/climax of Infernal Affairs is handled much better than in The Departed. The ending of The Departed is almost cartoonish and tonely-off. In Internal Affairs the ending is handled which much more precision and matureness. However, the ending to The Departed comes as more of a surprise and is more shocking, despite being a bit cartoonish.
That's all i have to say, watching Infernal Affairs was a chore, i did not have a fun time watching it, it was a difficult watch, and i have no intention in ever watching it again.
Report
Awards
Hong Kong Film Awards
• 7 Wins & 16 Nominations
Golden Horse Film Festival
• 6 Wins & 13 Nominations
Golden Bauhinia Awards
• 5 Wins & 9 Nominations
