
Village Voice
The sensationally matched Lau and Leung, lupine and doe-eyed respectively, spark fireworks that make Heat‘s De Niro-Pacino summit look like an awkward blind date.
Full reviewDirected by Wai-Keung Lau and Alan Mak and later remade as The Departed by Martin Scorcese, this Hong Kong crime-thriller follows an undercover cop (Tony Chiu Wai Leung) and a triad member (Andy Lau) working as a police department mole.
Ten years after their appointment as moles, undercover policeman Chan Wing-Yan (Leung) and triad member Lau Kin Ming (Lau) are growing confused about their true identities while their respective employers, police superintendent Wong (Anthony Wong) and crime boss Hon Sam (Eric Tsang) continue to wage a battle of wits against each other. Each boss learns that the other has a mole working for him and Ming and Yan have to scramble to expose one another's identity in an effort to save their own skins.
Co-director Wai-Keung (AKA Andrew) Lau previously worked as a cinematographer on several of Wong Kar-Wai's films (Chungking Express, As Tears Go By). Renowned cinematographer Christopher Doyle served as visual consultant.
LessThe sensationally matched Lau and Leung, lupine and doe-eyed respectively, spark fireworks that make Heat‘s De Niro-Pacino summit look like an awkward blind date.
Full reviewA relentlessly taut Hong Kong cop thriller that, unlike many of its cinematic peers, doesn't burn off tension in choreographed action sequences.
Full reviewIt's refreshing enough to make up for its occasional missteps in the storytelling department.
Full reviewThis is a movie that gets its hooks into you early, and no chance is it letting go.
Full reviewThere is a perceptible thinness to the sheen of the proceedings, and the actors... rely on a flow of soulful, impassive cool.
Full reviewWhat gives Infernal Affairs its heat is the friction of who-am-I psychology and cool Hong Kong-style action.
Full reviewThe movie's engine is the relationships and the characters' inner lives, all of it boiling with emotional intensity.
Full reviewIt overflows with psychological intrigue, something often missing from such offerings.
Full reviewSuperbly honed at both script and performance levels, with character taking precedence over action.
Full review...careful plotting, rich characterisations and sleek mise-en-scène give this an impact rarely seen in HK films these days.
Full reviewThe relentless pace of Infernal Affairs, briskly spinning a story of two men on a collision course with their principles, offers lessons for Hollywood. This is how movies can move. This is how mature an action movie can be.
Full reviewThis stripped-down noir, about a pair of detectives leading undercover lives, signals a new era for Hong Kong filmmaking.
Full reviewWhat makes it special is the inner turmoil caused by living a lie. If everyone you know and everything you do for 10 years indicates you are one kind of person, and you know you are another, how do you live with that?
Full reviewWith gloss as well as depth, this super-stylish Asian crime thriller should play beyond UK arthouses to become more than another cult favourite.
Full reviewInfernal Affairs is available to stream in Australia now on SBS On Demand.
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