Infernal Affairs 2
One of Hong Kong cinema’s major assets is that all of its technical crew and actors make between 2 to 5 films per year, similar to the old period of Hollywood’s pre 1960 history, where films were made on a production line basis.
One of Hong Kong cinema’s major assets is that all of its technical crew and actors make between 2 to 5 films per year, similar to the old period of Hollywood’s pre 1960 history, where films were made on a production line basis. This means that film making progresses with intuition and seat of your pants energy. This is a cinema where perfection is judged by the audience and not by some business man in a suit saying yey or ney to every decision before the film even starts production. This is very evident in INFERNAL AFFAIRS 2, the prequel to the worldwide hit called (guess), yes, INFERNAL AFFAIRS. However, as well as being an asset, you also get an over abundance of a particular kind of film. In the case of Hong Kong cinema this is the cops and robbers film. Although there is nothing particularly new about INFERNAL AFFAIRS 2, it does competently execute itself as a worthy sequel, if not even better than the original.
When INFERNAL AFFAIRS hit UK cinema’s earlier this year I remember watching Kermode, Greer et al on Newsnight discussing whether it was one of Hong Kongs first art house cop films. They concluded that it was, but if they new their film and were being honest, it was standard fair that traded in the simple computer music of most Hong Kong action films for an eclectic soundtrack and original score that used a wide variety of instruments and sounds. It is amazing how the use of music in a film can change the perception about what kind of film you are actually watching. Once again this sequel opts for the same musical choice as the original, whilst also nodding it’s head to the recent pillaging of Lisa Gerrard’s (DEAD CAN DANCE) voice by Hollywood (MISSION IMPOSSIBLE 2, GLADIATOR, BLACK HAWK DOWN, to name 3), except they substitute her voice with someone who sounds virtually identical. However, it does elevate the narrative of the characters to almost tragic spiritual levels (like in GLADIATOR and BLACK HAWK DOWN).
I am not going to describe the story, other than to say that it seeks to, and successfully so, add further levels to the original film by increasing the depth of back story and character motivations. The action is not as prevalent as the first film but copies the formula of THE GODFATHER trilogy by building up to a series of murders by the various characters that are all intercut into a symphonic montage. It is clear to see the limitations of Hong Kong budgets for their films, as this is character based storytelling of the complex and exciting kind. In fact the way that the drama is cut together reminded me of the main thread storyline that ran through the middle series of THE X FILES. The way that each scene arrives at the meat of a scene or at a tragic moment, with the music carrying one scene over to the next, provides film making that allows for very few breaths to be taken through the viewing. I am not sure that this is art house fair but it is about as good as its going to get for action genre film making.
The film is far from perfect though. As we follow cops and triads around for the whole film, it is very difficult to fully invest in any of the characters, unless you are a cop or triad member, or a potential Michael Ryan. Although the story builds and builds in a very slow way for a Hong Kong film, the music does get the heart racing and keeps the brain ticking over. Having seen A BETTER TOMORROW 2 (still criminally unreleased on DVD as of yet), THE GODFATHER and CHUNGKING EXPRESS, there is very little to say about this film being original in any sense. The fact that all the cops and bad guys are equally as good and bad as each other is nothing new to anyone who has seen THE KILLER, HARD BOILED, FACE OFF or even HEAT. And for anyone who has seen CHUNGKING EXPRESS, the levels of similarity between the characters is nothing remotely as remarkable as that film, which was probably the most influential small budget film of recent times, influencing everything from Hollywood to French cinema and from Bertolluci to Winterbottom. It is no surprise that one of INFERNAL AFFAIRS’ two directors was one of the camera men on CHUNKING EXPRESS, a fact that displays itself through both the characters and the colour palette of the camerawork in this film. As another interesting aside, one of this films editors was Danny Pang, one of the two brothers of THE EYE fame.
The DVD comes with less extras than the original film release but it does have three deleted scenes that don’t make the damndest bit of difference to the price of anything, A CONFIDENTIAL FILE which lasts 6 mins (look out for the camera crew nearly getting wiped out by a car that missed it’s stop mark) and A BEHIND THE SCENES, which is a making of by another name for Hong Kong TV to get people into the cinema and as such all we get is the films stars kissing each and everyone’s ass. Not exactly quality extras but interesting all the same in a gossip kind of way. They have also blessed the release with the inclusion of the original, yes, the original theatrical trailer. So for the 4 people in the world who want to watch the trailer it will indeed be Christmas time in January.
The sound is excellent, coming in Tartan’s standard 3 forms, 2.0 stereo, 5.1 surround and DTS surround 5.1. The sound does add a lot to this film in more ways than one, so don’t forget to wack the volume up as high as you can get it without entering into a war situation with your next door neighbours. The picture is sharp but I did wonder whether this was shot on HD and not film. The quality seemed to have more in common with Michael Mann’s COLLATERAL than it did HEAT. Still, it looked great and the framing and colour scheme was expertly composed.
Although the film is entertaining and thought provoking it is no masterpiece by global standards. However, with the imminent Hollywood remake called THE DEPORTED, starring De Caprio and Matt Damon and directed by non other than Martin Scorsese, currently in pre production we will all be hearing a lot more about this trilogy of films. INFERNAL AFFAIRS 3 has already done the rounds abroad and will I’m sure soon be available mid 2005 on DVD in the UK, so maybe it is time if you haven’t yet, to check these first two films out. Anyone who liked the first film will really enjoy this second instalment and anyone who is yet to see any of them should maybe get down to their supplier and check them both out. You may even get more out of the first film by watching the sequel first. As I have watched them in order I can’t guarantee that but I can see a case for it. Overall it is energetic, in places moving and overall a bit of entertainment that it is better to see than to miss.
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