Review of Infernal Affairs

Introduction

Another Hong Kong action thriller. They come and go and stars are made and dropped when the box office fails to get excited. Fortunately for the team behind Infernal Affairs, the film stormed the HK box-office and it`s not hard to see why. Filled with style it needed substance to match and thankfully it has a good balance of both. Infernal Affairs was made in 2002 so it`s taken a long time arriving here and had a brief theatrical bow in March `04. Already a well-known and liked action thriller it`s even getting the big budget Hollywood treatment.

Get them while they`re young and in training. That`s when a cadet is recruited into top-secret undercover work in a Triad gang, and that`s when a Triad mole is planted within the police force. Growing from there, they serve their masters from opposite ends of the law until their paths cross.

Video

Presented with a 2.35:1 widescreen enhanced video transfer, Infernal Affairs looks good. It`s stylised, clean and well balanced; the colours, contrast and detail positively shine from the transfer. There are minor amounts of dirt and some minor edge enhancement in some scenes, but none of this gets in the way and I think you`ll be far too busy watching the onscreen action. I couldn`t spot any signs of compression or other transfer problems and this DVD is a joy to watch.

Audio

There are three 5.1 film soundtracks to choose from, DTS 5.1, Chinese Dolby Digital and English dubbed 5.1. There`s an audio commentary too (subtitled). Attention has been paid to the sound design, which clearly shows that sound is a key part of the film rather than just an add-on, and it starts with the opening titles. The surrounds kick in and the smooth sounding bass shows how deep it can go; I`ve played the opening credits and music a fair few times with both DD and DTS Chinese tracks and they both sound good, though the DD is louder. Throughout the film there are good examples of well-imagined sound. The LFE gets a chance to work, as do the surrounds and it makes the film a very engaging experience. Dialogue is clear from the centre and I couldn`t notice any problems with the sound at all. Whichever track you listen to between the DD and DTS, you`ll get a lot from the sound.

Features

Easy to navigate animated menus with a fair selection of extras:

• Audio Commentary (subtitled) - This audio commentary is with both directors, Andrew Lau and Andy Mak. It`s in Chinese with the help of English subtitles, but while some of it is interesting, I found it to be hard work getting through it. Reading the subs, listening to the Chinese and watching the film action is tiring! Yes there are some interesting pieces of info, but unless you`ve had a fix of something to keep you wide awake and alert, you might struggle to get through it.

• Behind the Scenes: The Making of Infernal Affairs (16:01) - A nice little featurette with cast and crew talking about their roles/characters.

• Confidential Files (6:04) - This is a nice little extra that goes behind the scenes and rather than talk to directly to camera, it`s simply footage with music playing; you can see the cast and crew filming or preparing to film. Nice, but too short.

• Outtakes Reel (9:00) - Do it again, and again, again until it`s done right. Outtakes as you would expect.

• Photo Gallery - 14 stills taken from the film and production art.

• Alternate Ending (8:36) - This ending ties things up and leaves the film closed. I think the ending used in the film is fine the way it is.

• Trailers - Original theatrical (2:35) and English (2:46) dubbed trailer. Both are overly long and spoiler ridden.

• Asia Extreme Trailer Reel - Trailers for Ring, Shiri, The Eye, Visitor Q, Public Enemy and Graveyard of Honour.

The English subtitles are clear and easy to read.

Conclusion

Having seen this in the cinema I knew that I wanted it on DVD too. It`s taken a long time though reaching these R2 shores because Infernal Affairs 2 and 3 have already been released on DVD in region 3. Still, this is a start and a most welcome package from Tartan.

The story isn`t radically new, but it does inject some much-needed new life in Hong Kong action thrillers where the twists keep coming. A long-term undercover cop in a gang where only one, his boss, knows his identity, and a highly placed mole playing cop guarding the interests of his gang boss, but who now has to find the mole in the gang. There are moments in the film when you think one or the other will be revealed but it narrowly misses and keeps you going till the end; there`s plenty of dramatic conflict.

I found the two main leads, played by Andy Lau as the corrupt cop/mole and Tony Leung Chiu Wai as the mole/cop, to be riveting. This is exactly how two leads should be by getting you so immersed into the film that you want to see what will happen next, that you want to see how the film is going to get out of the corner it`s just painted itself into. One of the best parts of the film are the well developed secondary characters supporting the main characters. Usually this element is taken for granted but here we get the mole`s police boss, SP Wong, as well as the gang boss himself, Sam, pitting against each other and getting good screen time. This helps to make the film rise above the run-of-the-mill cops, moles, corrupt action thrillers that we might be used to seeing.

The story isn`t perfect however and niggles with minor plot holes, but these really are minor and once glossed over you`re thrust back into the film to promptly forget about it. I know that when I first saw the film it left me positively exhausted while I thought over the storyline. There`s a lot to take in the first time and its pace is relentless. A second and third watch of the film is just as enjoyable and gives you that little bit more to take. It`s not a long film at around 97-minutes, but it packs a lot in and keeps the pace up.

Tartan has really come on leaps and bounds of late with more comprehensive DVDs being put together. The sound is top notch and the video transfer is very good too. The extras, with the exception of the audio commentary, are lightweight but good to have to hand. Infernal Affairs is a great piece of Hong Kong action cinema and one not to be missed.