Infernal Affairs II (2003)

Wonderful character development!

Surprisingly incoherent and boring

Expected more

Great example of an old-fashioned, pure-at-heart escapist event movie that doesn't pretend to be anything that it's not and has boat loads of fun being its own ludicrous self.

The prequel of Infernal Affairs ... Inspector Wong wants Sam to be the new leader of the Triads, and conspires with Sam's wife to assassinate Father Ngai ,, but doesn't take into account Hau Ngai (the middle son) has the balls to take over the Triads himself ..He blackmails the other Triad leaders into working for him , with Sam as his right-hand man .. Officer Lau is climbing the ranks within the agency and Officer Yan gets exposed for being the youngest son in the Ngai family .. Determined to be a cop and put his family name behind him, he agrees to become an undercover to take down his older brother .Hau Ngai learns Sam's wife and the police were behind his father's killing , and orders hits out on them . He decides to take out Sam and the Five Triad Heads for safe measures ensuring his family will have power in the long run . Sam gets tipped off there's a hit on his head and makes alliances with Thailand ..Fast forward some years and Sam is ready to testify against Hau Ngai and have him prosecuted .. But before that, they share a few last words with hostage negotiations on the table

Infernal Affairs II is a great movie but it never lived up to the standards of the first one which happens to be a masterpiece. It may not be a classic but still it has a great story in it. The film focuses on the youth of both Inspector Lau and Yan as moles of the police force and criminal organization run by Sam respectively. Aside from that, it also relates the story of the rise of Sam as the triad boss and his relationship with Inspector Wong,who belongs to the police organization and is determined to bring down his crime organization. The movie was interesting in the sense that we see two young people develop differently and how they turn out to be not the person they aspire to be. Aside from that, it also presents their personal and spiritual struggles that they encounter and the burden of the responsibility they carry in their everyday lives. The movie is highly recommended for everyone who loves the first movie. The acting is great inspite of the absence of the two main stars of the first film. The direction by Andrew Lau is still wonderful.

This is the second of the 'Infernal Affairs' trilogy, and is a prequel to the events portrayed in the 2002 film Infernal Affairs. Concentrating more on the Triads and the power struggle that ensues when one of their bosses is assassinated. In particular the rise of Hon Sam is portrayed here along with the relationships he develops within the Hong Kong police. More of this later, here's a brief summary first (summary haters, and those that don't wish to know about the plot, please take out another crime boss while I write the next paragraph).When the main Triad boss, Father Kwun is killed, his son, Ngai Wing Hau takes over the business. The other bosses don't agree at first but soon fall into line when they realise Hau is no pushover. Lower down the pecking-order, Hon Sam is just waiting for the opportunity to move up the ladder. He already has contacts inside the police force, including Inspector Wong Chi Shing, who would dearly love to take him down. Chan Wing Yan is an undercover cop installed in the gang to gain information on their activities. Sam is also grooming a young cop to be his inside man in the Police not realising that this young cop has a serious crush on his wife, Mary. As events progress more and more of the Triad bosses meet grizzly ends and it soon becomes a show-down between Sam, who has survived an attempt on his life in Thailand, and Hau. Will the Police have a say in the outcome though? I'll leave it there so as not to upset the Hong Kong Spoiler Police.This is a pretty well made film with some good performances and quite a nice soundtrack. It is quite violent and some of the violence is quite graphic in places. As I said, good performances, particularly from; Anthony Wong Chau-Sang as Inspector Wong Chi Shing, Eric Tsang who was excellent again as Hon Sam, Carina Lau as Mary Hon, Francis Ng as Ngai Wing Hau, Edison Chen as Officer Lau Kin Ming and Shawn Yue as Chan Wing Yan.Because it concentrates on the workings of the criminal elements, I felt this film was almost trying to be a Chinese version of 'The God Father'. It's clearly not as good as that, but there's enough double-dealing going on to make it a good candidate. I did find it a little too long, but it did keep my attention. Not as good as the first one, but still quite watchable… Recommended.My Score: 7.1/10

Like A Better Tomorrow 3 this is actually a prequel to Infernal Affairs 1. This confusing development in film needs to be fine tuned before it gets out of control and logical sequels start going backwards.I can't wait for Stallone's next film Rambo -1, when he goes forward in time to fight cavemen in a spaceship before he is even born as an old man! Infernal Affairs became better know as "the film they turned into The Departed so white people could like it" a few years back. In my recent review I pointed out that they are so similar that you could watch either and have a good handle on the other without seeing it.I'd love to see how Hollywood would rip this, as for a period of time it is so confusing and intricately plotted that I couldn't tell who was selling who out and who exactly was being screwed over.(I am a big advocate of subtitles instead of dubbing, but reading and seeing who is saying the lines can be hard when there are heaps of characters on screen and a lot of dialogue. That was the case here, sometimes I had to rewind the thing a few seconds to see who was saying the line before I could even try to guess why they were saying it. Not the filmmakers fault I don't speak Chinese, just the facts though.) We enter the story in 1991. The bad guy from I.A. 1 (This will be stupid, I can see it already), Sam is at this stage a henchman to the crime boss Ngai, who runs a friendly family crime operation. Sam has a girlfriend Mary, she is ruthless and calculating, (though never when Sam is around), and will do anything to help Sam and further their position, including ordering jobs on the side.Sam also happens to be good buddies with Inspector Wong, who you will rightfully guess is a police representative. Inspector Wong has a blurred idea of right and wrong at times, he tends to side with who will provide him with the most benefit at the time. This is complicated when his 2IC and another good friend, becomes very close to uncovering his dark secrets through the film. Inspector Wong basically is a good cop as long as he doesn't have to bust anyone that greases his palms along the way.There is the usual lies, deceit and betrayal (why can't crime lords just get along?), as several of Ngai's "colleagues" express displeasure at how he is running the show and refuse to put in, leading to a clever exchange with Ngai simultaneously working all four of them to get his way, while Same sits at the same table eating noodles.Now being a pre-sequel to Infernal Affairs there are duplicitous gents with feet in both camps. The new good-rat is Yau, who happens to be Ngai's half-brother (again like A Better Tomorrow), and the naughty-rat is Yan, who is in close with: and lusts after; Mary.Fast forward to 1995. Ngai tells all around him he wants out. He plans to retire back to mainland China before the handover of Hong Kong in 1997 (do your history kids). He tells Sam first that the future of crime is in drugs, specifically cocaine, and he sends Sam to Thailand for a reconnoiter.All the while Yau (Ngai's half bro remember? And a cop.) has decided that Ngai's is a pretty good bloke for a vicious crime lord and can't bring himself to bust him.Much to his surprise (and to anyone who hasn't watched a movie before, I thought it was obvious), Ngai switches up the pace and bumps off all his major threats, including the sub-bosses who all thought they were going to move into the hot seat once he retired. In another twist he also tries to put an end to Sam. Smart move, basically the primary threat to a retired crim are other crims who know his secrets.____________________________________________________________ As things start to fall apart the cops are forced to take action, and take Ngai into custody, along with almost everyone he knows, including the two rats, both of whom are perilously close to being identified and erased.As sh*t crumbles around them, Inspector Wong, Yau, Yan, Mary and Sam each must question where their loyalties lie, and Ngai and the police frantically try to work out who is loyal and who is a threat.Infernal Affairs isn't your standard crime thriller, no-one is all bad or all good. Even Ngai as the kingpin of the whole operation is quite smooth and likable… mostly. Also, as alliegances switch through the film and everyone sells out everyone else it is hard to keep track.The easiest way I found was to think of who ended up in the first film, that gives you an unfair advantage in guessing who will survive the prequel.Although confusing, the ending to Infernal Affairs 2 is really well done as everything is almost wrapped up neatly. I found that in the first half the sheer number of characters and convoluted situations became a little too complicated, but the finale made it all worthwhile.Final Rating – 7.5 / 10. A worthy sequel/prequel to a solid first film. Well worth a look.If you liked this review (or even if you didn't) check out oneguyrambling.com