Film

Movie theaters, reviews and showtimes in New York, plus articles, trailers and more
 

Infernal Affairs (2002)

Director: Andrew Lau, Alan Mak

Average user rating
No reviews

Movie review

From Time Out Film Guide

Undercover cops posing as triad gangsters have been staple figures in HK cinema since Alex Cheung's Man on the Brink (1980, sort-of remade by Andrew Lau in 1994 as To Live and Die in Tsimshatsui), but this huge domestic hit goes one better by twinning its fake triad cop (Leung) with a triad mole in the police force (Lau). Each mole is answerable to the other's nominal boss (Wong and Tsang respectively), leading to tactical complications and a lot of genuine suspense as each side tries to outwit the other over a shipment of dope from Thailand. There's no hint of an auteur sensibility at play, but the careful plotting, rich characterisations and sleek mise-en-scène give this an impact rarely seen in HK films these days. Leung is outstanding as a man close to mental and physical breakdown, and Lau's cocky narcissism is exploited more cunningly than usual. The Chinese title invokes the lowest circle of Buddhist hell, a fair indication of how noir things get.

Author: TR 0000-00-00 00:00:00

Time Out Film Guide

  • Print this page
  • Send to a friend

What do you think?
Post your review now

clear rating
Min 1 star. Zero stars will be treated as unrated.

*mandatory fields


Cast & crew

Director: Andrew Lau, Alan Mak

Producer: Andrew Lau

Cast: Andy Lau, Tony Leung Leung Chiu-Wai, Anthony Wong, Eric Tsang, Sammi Cheng, Kelly Chen full cast

Genre(s): Gangsters

Duration: 100 mins

Related articles


Features

Making a name for himself

Making a name for himself

Sin Nombre's Cary Joji Fukunaga learned his lessons well.

To the letter

Forty years later, Costa-Gavras's Z still brims with fury.

Mind over matter

David Cronenberg reflects on a most bizarre body: his own corpus of work.

Fool's gold

Can an Oscar win lead to a cursed career? Here are five stories of postaward professional meltdowns.

We are the championed

Terrorists and teens abound in this year's "Film Comment Selects."

A history of violence

Matteo Garrone's kaleidoscopic Gomorrah wallops you with Italy's crime crisis.

True romantic

James Gray exchanges urban amorality for amour in Two Lovers.

Playing in the dark

MoMA salutes pianist Stuart Oderman's 50 years as the one-man sound of silents.

Junk bonds

Cast and crew recall the making of the classic NYC drug drama The Panic in Needle Park.