Infernal Affairs II (2003)

Clever, believable, and super fun to watch. It totally has replay value.

A story that's too fascinating to pass by...

The joyful confection is coated in a sparkly gloss, bright enough to gleam from the darkest, most cynical corners.

Like the great film, it's made with a great deal of visible affection both in front of and behind the camera.

I didn't feel that this was a unnecessary prequel but it's still competent. So if you liked the first one, this won't ruin this franchise for you. This prequel delves into how Chan Wing-yan earned the trust of the Triad bosses. Lau Kin-ming affair or one sided love with Hon Sam's wife. His work and his cunning executions while working for Ngai Kwun a Triad Boss. This prequel builds some sympathy for Hon, his grief and his rise to power. It further delves into some unnecessary subplots but it did a alright job of showing insight to the two moles younger years. Some parts did not seem all that consistent when it comes to the narrative and some parts did come off a bit corny. But overall, it's a competent prequel that came about thanks to the first one's huge success.7/10

I can't say that I thought too much about this movie, though I have since found out that it is the prequel (as opposed to a sequel, which most movies ending in a 2 are). While there were action scenes, and a lot of shooting, it did seem hard to follow with no real continuity between the scenes. What I gathered was that this movie begins in 1993 and leads up to the hand over of Hong Kong to the Chinese (where it ends) though this event is only in the background.This movie follows the story of a police officer whose goal is to bring down the triad family, the Ngai, before the handover of power, but in doing so sees many of his colleges killed. However, within the Ngai family, the patriarch has died, which has left the family in a vacuum, and the various sons are all wrestling for control. While this is happening, one of the sons is expelled from the police force due to his family connections, but is then recruited by another officer to infiltrate the family and collect evidence, and his reward is a position as a police officer.As mentioned, this movie was quite confusing, difficult to follow, and seemed to have too much going on at once with too many characters. While things do become clear as one gets to the end of the film, the movie does drag on quite a bit, and once the end arrives, you feel glad that it has.

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.

It was great to see Francis Ng's tour de force performance in Infernal Affairs II. Really great to see an actor's coming-of-age. The intricacies of his character was handled with great sensitivity.I thought the casting of Mainland actor, Jun Hu, as Luk as was rather odd at first. While he played his part well alongside Anthony Wong, his lines had to be dubbed into Cantonese. Then when I looked the company credits I realised IA 2 was a co-production between HK and the Mainland. Having Hu (and Dao-Ming Chen in IA 3) in one of the leading roles was perhaps a commercial decision (for the Mainland market) or a requirement of the co-production deal with the Mainland co-producer. While the younger version of Yan and Lau did not quite live up to the very high standard set by Tong Leung and Andy Lau in IA 1, IA 2 was more than salvaged (or excelled IA 1 some might say) by the best ensemble performance that Hong Kong had to offer by Eric Tsang, Anthony Wong, Francis Ng and Carina Lau.