|
Award
at the Hong Kong Film Awards 2004:
Best Original Song Cheung Hong (Wide Open Space)
Music: Steve Wong
Lyrics: Steve Wong & Yip Sai-Wing
Performed by: Beyond
Nominations
at the Hong Kong Film Awards 2004:
Best Picture
Best Director (Andrew Lau & Alan Mak)
Best Screenplay (Alan Mak & Felix Chong)
Best Actor (Francis Ng)
Best Actress (Carina Lau)
Best Supporting Actor (Liu Kai-Chi)
Best Supporting Actor (Chapman To)
Best Cinematography (Andrew Lau & Ng Man-Ching)
Best Editing (Danny Pang & Pang Ching-Hei)
Best Original Film Score (Comfort Chan)
Best Sound Effects (Kinson Tsang)
Award
at the Hong Kong Film Critics Society Awards 2004:
Best Picture
The success
of Infernal Affairs both financially and in terms of
awards not so unexpectedly prompted the team to expand the
story. The result is this prequel (and a third part that,
at the time of writing, premieres in just a few days) that
takes us back to the period 1991-1997 in the life of moles
Lau and Yan, this time portrayed in youthful form by Edison
Chen (Princess-D) and Shawn Yue (Just One Look).
Veterans Eric Tsang and Anthony Wong reprise their roles in
addition to Francis Ng & Carina Lau joining the cast.
Infernal Affairs II
was met with good box-office, fairly positive reviews plus
thankfully somewhat of an assurance that the teen idols taking
Andy Lau and Tony Leung's roles weren't given the task of
carrying the picture. Certainly Hong Kong cinema knows how
to milk a concept, co-director Andrew Lau being one of them
with his Young & Dangerous series so should they
have stopped at one movie for the Infernal Affairs series?
Certainly not.
In 1991, Mary (Carina Lau), wife of Sam (Eric Tsang) sets
in motion a series of events by ordering Lau King Ming (Edison
Chen) to murder Kwun, the most powerful crime boss in Hong
Kong. Sam on the other hand has sworn allegiance to Kwun and
Mary makes the decision of not letting him in on the plans.
Son of Kwun, Hau (Francis Ng), is given the highest power
now and the police, headed by Inspector Wong (Anthony Wong)
and Super Intendent Luk (Hu Jun) are on high alert, expecting
a revenge to take place soon. Chan Wing Yan (Shawn Yue) is
the son of Kwun and half-brother of Hau which leads to him
facing a dismissal from his police force training Yan has
severed all ties with that part of the family tree but he's
only given a chance to stay a cop by going undercover in the
triads, working for his half-brother. Also, Sam sends his
own mole, Lau King Ming, to infiltrate the police force. The
legend starts here...
Hong
Kong film has during the last few years fallen in love with
a superficial style of filmmaking akin to Hollywood blockbusters
but the original Infernal Affairs proved that you could
go for international appeal while still making sure you're
doing Hong Kong cinema. It benefited from a tight script,
constantly high production values and a cast that made it
rise way above pretty much everything from the genre output
in 2002 (not a hard task but still...). Now with its prequel,
the key team of Andrew Lau, Alan Mak and writer Felix Chong
are going for epic scale.
Is it
unfair to claim that Infernal Affairs II wants
to be The Godfather? Not really in my opinion but regardless,
this part, now focusing heavily on the conflict between rival
gangs, manages to come out on top in several areas. Technically
and performance wise it nails but if any shortcoming is to
be found is that it all is a bit much to take in at once.
There are examples of movies growing on you on subsequent
viewings and I have a gut feeling this will do but for the
sake of judging the film on its first viewing, parts of the
scripts comes off as slightly muddled. For the majority of
the running time though, Lau and Mak keep a marvelous good
focus on characters, new and old, and their role in this installment.
The team
of directors captures you from frame one with a monologue
from Anthony Wong's character. A speech familiar from other
movies but after the conclusion of that, Lau and Mak begins
throwing new, or rather old, character relations at us. We
see that Wong and Sam at this point in time (1991) were indeed
on opposite sides of the law but were more respectful foes
than seen in Infernal Affairs. It works as a trigger
for our curiosity and it's not the only unexpected twist from
what we saw in the first installment. New characters such
as Mary, wife of Sam, Hau, head of the criminal Ngai family
and half-brother of Yan, are introduced and we are kind of
worried that this will be overwhelming. It is initially but
it doesn't take long to sort people out. The story elements
such as the rivalry within the criminal world, just as Infernal
Affairs was as a whole, doesn't break new ground but
I'll repeat myself here. It's all about execution and while
Infernal Affairs II works with a little bit too much,
the directors create genuine involvement, especially for the
viewers with a good knowledge of the first film.
It's
only towards the very end that things become a bit muddled.
You're in there in bursts and ultimately if you're slightly
lost, you WILL get the whole meaning at a basic level. That
is then a sign of a good work by the directors whom I believe
have in mind subsequent viewings. Alan Mak and Felix Chong's
script could've gone even more overboard but throughout they
have created several new, interesting threads between characters
that will bring greater emotional resonance to events already
seen in Infernal Affairs and hopefully in the third
film. Hong Kong cinema aren't constantly blessed with dedication
so despite negatives, there's many, many positives for Infernal
Affairs II.
At 2
hours, the movie is paced very well and if you feel the story
is not sizzling enough for you, the production will impress.
Hong Kong cinema has, as I said, taken a Hollywood style into
their films but Infernal Affairs managed to
almost scale all that away in favour of story. Part 2 manages
to do that even better because cinematographers Andrew Lau
and Ng Man Ching left the MTV style at home (and they didn't
bring it to the editing room either). Gone are the quick cuts
set to sound effects and the strong colours. Admittedly, Infernal
Affairs wasn't as guilty of the latter but it's wonderful
to see Lau and company taking down the green colour scheme
to a minimal level (I would rather see it gone but you can't
have everything). They instead emphasizes clarity and naturalism
while still having a commercial look in mind. It all blends
so good and the actors are really well lit as well. Comfort
Chan, the composer, takes a few steps backwards though. The
majority of his score is choir based, which is spot on used
at the middle point of the film where everyone has passed
the point of no return and going into their continuous hell
(the theme that continues from the first installment). The
misstep he takes is to build on that through the movie and
emotional moments are way too manipulative at times. There
are enough imagery here to have us caring anyway and Chan
does show throughout that he is capable of stripping away
the layers of music. So it's a shame the score in the end
ranks the lowest out of all the elements in the film.
With
such a famous cast, the good writing on display gets taken
to great levels at times. Anthony Wong and Eric Tsang returns
and do great work at developing their past relationship for
the viewer. Tony is the weary, tired Wong that works alongside
a younger superior, Luk, played by Hu Jun. The events over
the years brings out hidden emotions and depth in Wong that
Tony doesn't miss a beat in performing. Pure class. Eric Tsang
brings back that playfulness to Sam but the menace develops
ever so slightly through the film. You've always been fooled
in thinking he hasn't got what it takes but it's a more sly
character than the surroundings ever could see.
The biggest
suspension of disbelief in the whole saga would have to that
Andy Lau and Tony Leung looked like Edison Chen and Shawn
Yue earlier in their youth as characters. That's something
that happens with movies constantly so I can let that go more
easily. Shawn fills the shoes of Tony Leung quite nicely in
a performance that requires more silent acting. Yan's development
is about the undercover life taking its toll on him mentally
plus the fact that there's now personal feelings involved
since he's secretly working against his half-brother. I think
Shawn Yue, when directed well, could break out big in a few
years time. He has good charisma for his age and does justice
to the development of Yan during this 90s period in which
the film is set. Him & Edison Chen get relatively little
screentime but are injected and present at the crucial points
in the story. Edison, the ever so dorky, Edison though. He
is a dorky kid and that worked to his advantage in Princess-D,
a performance I liked. As long as he says little, does little,
he can be tolerable. He does ok as Lau, the triad's mole working
his way up in the police force and has a strong directing
team backing him up. That means he's directed so that he doesn't
fully become a distraction and brings out the development
HE is going through. I'm glad to see him go though. He's one
of the one too many pop stars sadly inhabiting the Hong Kong
cinema.
Last
but not least and probably the greatest performance in the
film undoubtedly comes from So Good...'s absolute favourite
(if you haven't already guessed by now), Francis Ng. His name
is widely respected in the fan community and he's one actor
that has worked so much that he's also left thrash films behind
him. This is his best 2003 performance though. Hau is quiet,
mild-mannered, ruthless at select few times, and so on top
of his game. That requires qualities to performing that a
few actors actually could pull off also but not equally well.
It requires texture to everything from your body language
to your every mannerism and Francis brings out that wonderfully
well. It's been a while since he's provided us with a performance
like this and I hope the expected popularity of Infernal
Affairs will increase the fan base of this terrific actor.
Chapman To and Roy Cheung also appear. The latter logs a wordless
performance while Chapman continues to be the buffoon he was
in the first film. Having said that, even his character gets
to develop ever so slightly and it's clear he's dependable,
not just very smart.
The flaws
of Infernal Affairs II are flaws and therefore it
doesn't beat the impact of part 1. It does however, in a powerful
way, take us back the initial backstory of our main characters
while further expanding the theme of continuous hell, which
is an interesting one to me. I came out a bit stuffed after
2 hours but I'm sure some elements to characters will be more
easily digested a second time around. With the Infernal
Affairs movies, Hong Kong cinema may have found something
that can break out internationally and it's not an action
movie.
The
DVD:
Megastar
again forces the viewer to sit through logos etc. before the
main menu loads up but it's not too bad since we see a teaser
trailer for the movie at hand before making our menu choices.
Nice way to get into the mood. The 2.35:1 anamorphic transfer
is a lovely thing with strong colours, detail and depth. Slight
print damage is seen at the beginning but stays clear for
most of the running time.
The Cantonese
Dolby Digital 5.1 track is superbly produced with music being
the dominant element. Even if it's a flawed score, it envelopes
the viewer greatly at points and all other aspects of the
soundtrack are presented well. A Cantonese DTS 5.1 option
and a Dolby Digital 5.1 Mandarin dub is also available.
The English subtitles has a few slight errors but are excellent
otherwise. Traditional and simplified Chinese subtitles are
also available.
This
is a 2 Disc set with the first disc, entitled The Legend,
holding only one extra and that is the Cantonese language
audio commentary with the Cast & Crew. Only traditional
and simplified Chinese subtitles are available for this track.
Being such a high profile release, it's a shame time wasn't
taken to make this extra available to non-Cantonese speakers.
We move
on to the 2nd disc where the rest of the extras reside but
first we're greeted to a mobile phone ad. Thankfully you can
skip it. Let's
start from top to bottom shall we?
Select
The Story and you get something as exciting as 3-screen
plot synopsis (available in English and Chinese). Useless
since this is also printed on the back cover. A note about
the packaging, in a nice touch, the outer sleeve has different
front cover art than the inner front artwork.
The slipcase shows Shawn Yue, Carina Lau and Edison Chen while
the rest of the main cast is fully revealed on the inner artwork.
Deleted
Scene is actually 4 clips, 2 of which are extensions (as
far as I could gather). No subtitles are provided so I can't
judge on the importance and quality of these.
Confidential
File
(5 minutes, 43 seconds) is a similar piece to that found on
the dvd of the first Infernal Affairs. No subtitles
are needed for this program that takes us to the traditional
ceremony prior to shooting and a few nice, lighthearted behind
the scenes moments (not counting the bit where the camera
crew almost gets run over) are subsequently provided.
The Making
Of can be played in full or in short bursts via the additional
4 options in this section. The shorter programs are different
edits but to the best of my knowledge, all its content can
be found in the full making of. The total running time is
21 minutes, 55 seconds and the program comes with burned in
English subtitles. As an intro, we suitably hear talk of the
real acting talent involved before we launch into the first
half where the cast & crew mainly talk about characters.
What follows in the second half is an unexpected and honest
discussion about acting that normally doesn't get a huge part
in these programs. There's no over the top praise of the young
cast and the ever so honest Anthony Wong thinks they both
have a long way to go. It's a good start however says Francis
about Shawn Yue.
(Francis Ng, sporting his Shiver hairdo,
and Anthony Wong being interviewed in the making of)
Trailers
holds the teaser for Infernal Affairs II (same clip
that plays before the main menu on disc 1), its theatrical
trailer, international trailer, video trailer and 6 TV spots
(the 3 minute version option plays several versions). These
all sell the movie very well, especially when cutting together
images set to the best parts of Comfort Chan's score. The
English trailer voice for the international clip does detract
somewhat from the overall impact though. After a while, the
choosen structure to the this advertising start to become
repetitive also but it's a solid section of the disc.
Under
More Attractions you'll find perhaps the coolest extra
on the second platter; teaser and international trailer for
Infernal Affairs III. All clips feature burned in English
subtitles. The
Music Video by Beyond, mixes movie footage and the
band performing the theme song on a rooftop. Pretty dull and
I'm not that psyched about the song either.
Cast
& Credits has two sub sections, first called Cast
& Staff listing. It is exactly that, no info at all but
that comes under the selection Bio & Filmo. Co-director/producer/co-cinematographer
Andrew Lau and co-director/co-writer Alan Mak get super short
biographies and filmographies in both English and Chinese.
The actors get short character bio's as well (in English and
Chinese) plus there's a play button for each one that takes
you to 1 minute clips focusing on that particular character.
Mixing quick-cut behind the scenes footage with cast &
crew interviews, this segments doesn't provide any great depth
and for the most part have already been seen in the longer
making of. All clips feature burned in English subtitles.
The Photo Gallery (17 screens) showcases both
the usual lobby stills and the variety of poster art used
for the film. Nice to look at once. Also included in the disc's
case are 4 bookmarks with the main cast, in the familiar poses
from the advertising art.
An Easter Egg is also available on the 2nd disc also.
Press right to highlight the Infernal Affairs II-logo and
press enter on your remote. It'll take you to a short outtakes/blooper
reel (1 minute 59 seconds). For those of you that can
understand this untranslated clip, maybe there's a chuckle
or two to be found but as most programs of this sort, it's
just not very interesting.
Megastar have now taken a few steps forward by providing
English subtitles for part of the extras. I wish they would've
had the deleted scenes and the commentary in mind in regards
to that but progress is progress. Let's hope we see Megastar
will take the next big step into becoming a really major player
in the Hong Kong dvd market.
reviewed by Kennneth
Brorsson
BACK TO TOP
© 2002 - 2009 So Good... - Hong Kong DVD
Movie Reviews
|
