| |
Review
by Kozo: |
With little actual warning, the HK cops-and-robbers
thriller Infernal Affairs destroyed all comers
this past Christmas season. At over 55 million Hong
Kong dollars, the film has gone on to become the territory's
second highest-grossing local film behind Shaolin
Soccer. Cries of "Box Office Miracle"
were trumpeted by Hong Kong's so-called fourth estate,
which advanced the opinion that Hong Kong Cinema was
revived. Still, it would be preferable if a box-office
revival came with an actual good motion picture. Thankfully,
they pulled it off; despite some flaws, Infernal
Affairs is pretty good stuff.
Tony Leung Chiu-Wai
stars as Yan, a police mole in the triads for the
past ten years. He's been deep, deep undercover for
so long that he's started to question his focus and
sanity. Meanwhile, he has a mirror opposite on the
other side. Andy Lau is Ming, a rising cop who's secretly
a triad mole. For the same ten years, he's been feeding
information to Sam (Eric Tsang), a ruthless triad
kingpin who Yan currently works for. Sam's archenemy
is Organized Crime and Triad Bureau Inspector Wong
(Anthony Wong), who's Yan's only link to the police
force. On a routine drug bust, both sides discover
the presence of a mole within their ranks, and both
sides charge their respective undercover with finding
the offending party. However, Ming's exact loyalties
are not entirely clear, which may mean problems for
both Sam and Inspector Wong. Meanwhile, Yan tries
not to be killed by either side.
Other than the killer
concept, there's really nothing ultra new about Infernal
Affairs. The mirror-image cop/criminal thing has
been done to death in everything from Running Out
of Time to Face/Off, and Infernal Affairs doesn't really get out from beneath that. The concept
of opposing moles adds an extra layer, but it's still
nothing more than a minor tweak to genre convention.
The weak female roles are a good example of how Infernal
Affairs typifies its genre. Kelly Chen appears
as Dr. Lee, Yan's appointed psychiatrist and probably
the greatest-looking health practitioner ever. However,
despite Chen's presence, Dr. Lee doesn't do much more
than provide Yan with a love interest, and Taiwanese
singer Elva Hsiao's ballyhooed cameo is obligatory
character backstory. If either woman had been lost,
it likely wouldn't have hurt the film at all.
Conversely, the character
of Ming's girlfriend Mary is underused. As played
by Sammi Cheng, she's an overly spritely novelist
who spouts metaphorical dialogue as if there were
no tomorrow. Unfortunately, the filmmakers don't use
her character to further flesh out Ming. Ming is a
bad guy who wants to be a good guy, but our only real
clue to this is his apparent reticence when he first
enrolls in the police academy. The young Ming is played
fittingly by Edison Chen, who shines in roles requiring
only three lines of dialogue and no wannabe gangster
posturing. When Chen is onscreen, we see that Ming
wants no part of the undercover life; but when Andy
Lau takes over, his objections to the life of a mole
seem external: big promotions, new apartment, bubbly
girlfriend. If he's outed as a triad mole then he
loses those things—a prime motivation for wanting
to be good. Those things aren't properly explored;
sometimes, it seems that he simply is tired of being
controlled by Sam.
What it all comes down
to is "why." Yan wants to ditch the undercover
life because he's tired of living in darkness. Ming
wants to get out for seemingly selfish reasons, but
is that entirely true? The moral murkiness that's
offered up makes Ming seem only self-involved, and
not really a mixture of good or evil. Andy Lau does
a fine job with the character, and even brings a sinister
quality to the proceedings. Then again, it would have
been nice to have some confirmation of what exactly
was going on with Ming. The character work in Infernal
Affairs has been lauded by a variety of critics.
It happens to be excellent genre work, but no new
ground is truly covered, and in Ming's case potential
was wasted.
However, what Infernal
Affairs gets absolutely right is the thrill of
the chase. There are some contrivances along the way
(With a molehunt going on, wouldn't the respective
moles freeze physical meetings with the opposing side?),
but the mounting chase between the two leading characters
creates gripping cinematic tension. Likewise, the
fates of certain characters are affecting, and some
of the plot twists are genuinely compelling. Co-directors
Andrew Lau and Alan Mak manage the film well, providing
sharp, efficient direction and the presence of mind
to not deviate too frequently into unnecessary filler.
It probably made some people happy to throw in the
obligatory romantic subplots, but the directors wisely
spend little time there.
The rest of the production
is similarly top-notch. The other male actors are
fine in their iconic roles. Tony Leung Chiu-Wai brings
his subtle strengths as an actor to the tried-and-true
character of Yan, and Anthony Wong, Eric Tsang and
Chapman To (as Yan's triad buddy) are excellent in
their roles. Wong, especially, makes the rather small
part of Inspector Wong a memorable one. His subtle
underplaying creates more of a character than probably
existed on paper. Furthermore, the cinematography
(by Andrew Lau and Lai Yiu-Fai, with an assist from
Christopher Doyle) is exemplary. This may be the most
fittingly shot film of the year, with the dark, cool
colors of the triad underworld contrasting with the
stark, bright beauty of Hong Kong's daytime cityscape.
A lot of this stuff is award material; expect to see
Hong Kong Film Award nominations for many of the participants
involved.
Still, the question
does come up: was Infernal Affairs worthy of
all money made at the box office? Given its massive
box-office take, some might judge the film to be a
victim of massive hype, and be disappointed at the
result. Such thinking isn't entirely beyond understanding;
this isn't Shaolin Soccer, a film which was
simultaneously familiar, original and thrillingly
engaging. Infernal Affairs is simply good,
solid commercial work with a marvelous production
and some fine actors at the top of their game. It's
a prime example of massive synergy, where you take
the best of what's available and use it to its fullest.
Forget fresh, inspired plotlines or startling thematic
originality; this is simply a well-made, familiar
storyline with all the big stars appearing in the
same movie at the same time. And really, isn't a Hong
Kong film like that worth the price of admission?
(Kozo 2003) |
|
