Film

Infernal Affairs II (2003)

Director: Andrew Lau, Alan Mak

Movie review

From Time Out Film Guide

This unbelievably complicated prequel (a second viewing helps) opens in 1991 and follows police mole Yan (the Tony Leung character, here played by Shawn Yue) and triad mole Ming (the Andy Lau character, here Edison Chen) through a major power struggle in the HK underworld. The first of many 'revelations' is that Yan is actually the illegitimate son of a recently murdered triad boss; his rise in the criminal ranks owes everything to the patronage of his half-brother Hau (Ng), a 'family man' who methodically slaughters his way to power. The huge success of the first film has given the film-makers delusions of Coppola-esque grandeur: a one-off has swollen into a trilogy (Parts II and III were shot back-to-back and released three months apart), complete with a Michael Corleone figure. The designer 'look' of the original has gone, but there's an unmistakeable air of self-importance undercutting the dramatic impact. Performances are credible and in the case of mainland star Hu Jun (guesting as a senior cop, badly dubbed into Cantonese) actively likeable.

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