Discover Asian Cinema: the Infernal Affairs Trilogy

The Infernal Affairs Trilogy is one of the best movies in the crime thriller genre.  It also raised the bar in Asian film-making and is an all-time classic and masterpiece from the Hong Kong film industry.

Up There with the Greatest Crime Thrillers Ever

If we talk about the greatest crime thrillers and dramas ever, we instantly think of Coppola’s The Godfather, The Godfather Part 2 and Scorsese’s Goodfellas.  Crime thrillers are engaging and appealing because it is essentially good versus evil.  Good versus evil between two people, two groups and the choice between good or evil within a man.  That’s the magic of the genre, and those are the conflicts brewing in the Infernal Affairs Trilogy. 

Asian Cinema, a Breath of Fresh Air from Hollywood Films

Watching Asian cinema, especially the Infernal Affairs Trilogy, is a breath of fresh air since Hollywood has generally turned to making movies out of past and existing materials such as comic books, graphic novels, earlier films and TV series and even other Asian movies.  I read before that Hollywood does this because these materials already have a following and making movies out of them are sure money-makers and generally avoids flops.  Asian horror films have had their Hollywood versions from Ringu to Shutter.  Even Scorsese made a US version of Infernal Affairs or the first movie of the trilogy.  The Departed rightfully earned him his first Oscar, and a lot of people don’t even know it was based on a Hong Kong film. 

The Five-Hour Long Infernal Affairs Trilogy

Infernal Affairs (IA) came out in 2003, and this hit spawned a prequel, Infernal Affairs 2 (IA2), and a sequel, Infernal Affairs 3 (IA3), coming out one after the other the following year in 2004.  The version I bought and saw was a special edition of two DVDs playing the whole trilogy into one five-hour long movie.  This version maintained the continuity of the three films with some flashback scenes especially the transition between Shawn Yue, playing the younger Yan character, to Tony Leung and Edison Chen, playing the younger Ming character, to Andy Lau.  As a whole, this version is just gripping and even up to now, addicting to watch.  I love the cover of my DVD.  It’s black and silver with the faces of the characters.  They are like peering out of limbo as if to tell the viewer that this is their tale and the mistakes they have made so avoid them if you can in your own life.

Cops Against Triads

On the anniversary of the deaths of six gang brothers by the hands of the police, boss Sam initiates six members of his gang with the cleanest records to infiltrate the Hong Kong Police Force as moles.  From cadets to hopefully becoming high-ranking police officers, they are meant to serve the triads by giving valuable information to avoid arrest.  This is Sam’s way of sticking it to the Police Force for the loss of his comrades and for almost getting himself killed.  Sam is faithful to Master Ngai Kwun, whose family rules organized crime in Hong Kong.  This includes ruling over the Big Four in the underworld who pays the Ngais a share of their operations every 14th of the month.  Sam’s wife Mary realizes Sam’s potential as top dog and sets off a chain of events to “the point of no return” borrowing Mary’s words.  These events turn a faithful henchman into a ruthless and clever triad boss even surpassing the skills of his predecessor.  Under these events is Ming, Sam’s mole and originally Mary’s henchman.  Ming will rise as Sam’s most successful mole in the Police Force.  With a high rank and power, he will aid Sam’s cocaine operations from being caught and will also accidentally cause the lives of two of the Force’s finest.  On the opposite side of the war is Yan, the Force’s best cadet in 1991 who happens to be Master Ngai’s illegitimate son.  His superiors discovers this, and SP Wong, a police officer dedicated to bringing down the triads, sees this as an opportunity and offers Yan to be a mole in the triads for the Force.  This is a chance for Yan to remain as a cop from lying to the Force in his application.  Yan eventually ends up as a mole his whole career fighting for the day he will get his original identity and life back.  In their time as moles, Ming and Yan respectively discover the lives of their comrades and bosses in the Force and Triad.  Yan is committed to the cause and to finishing his job to defeat not only Sam but the mole, or “stooge” as he calls it, in the Force as well.  Ming, on the other hand, realizes that life on the good side of the fence is not bad after all with some hard work and patience.  He fights for his “right” to be a “good guy” but the tide of retribution is just too strong giving him the most dreaded fate in the end.

Six Reasons Why the Infernal Affairs Trilogy is a Great Crime Drama

Sam sent six moles to infiltrate the police force, so with that, I give the six reasons why the IA Trilogy is a classic film. 

1.  The Setting is Another World, Another City

In classic crime thrillers, we’ve been used to the mob in Chicago and New York.  IA is refreshing and brings us to Hong Kong and partly in Thailand where good cops bring down the triads.  Like the mob they are politically-connected and familial in nature.  IA brings the audience from pre-handover Hong Kong in 1991 to 2004.  The cars, food, culture and religion are different, but it’s still cops against crime.

2.  It Has Hong Kong’s Finest Actors

IA has Hong Kong’s finest actors.  This is like Oceans 11, 12 or 13 and other movies where every great actor is there in the cast.  IA is headed by Anthony Wong who plays SP Wong, Tony Leung as the police mole Yan and Andy Lau as the triad mole Ming.  IA2 also highlights promising actors Shawn Yue and Edison Chen as the younger Yan and Ming, respectively.  Eric Tsang as Sam is lovable as an obedient henchman and both clever and dangerous as a triad boss.

3.  Lots of Cool Characters and Wolves in Sheep’s Clothing

All the characters in this movie are cool.  This ranges from the minor character Del Piero, who despite having that name is really a Chinese triad to SP Wong, the dedicated police officer who recovers from a major blunder and continues the war against the Ngais.  I think one of the main appeals of the characters in IA is that they have exteriors that contrast their true personalities.  Sam is a jolly fat guy, but within his smiles are deceit and manipulation.  Ngai Wing Hau likewise looks like an accountant or librarian rather than a triad boss, but he is a clever tactician with the talent of spotting the dirt in someone and uses that as an advantage.  Another notable character is SP Keung, a typical clean-looking calm gentleman with neat glasses who drives a shiny black car.  If you think he does things by the book, you’re dead wrong, and he has the drive and intelligence to bring down, or more often “take out”, the criminals he targets.  He’ll throw a bag of cocaine in front of you and say, “The report’s already written.”  That is unless you help him with his problem and get a good citizen award instead.

4.  Great Writing and Storytelling

I am not certain if IA2, the prequel, and IA3, the sequel, were written after the success of IA.  If this was the case, I am very impressed by the writer or writers who made entirely new stories and characters behind and beyond the original movie.  IA2 is basically Sam’s origin into power, and IA3 is a cat and mouse game to nail Ming.  I am not certain too if this was one long story and the middle part, IA, was the one initially made into a movie.  This case would be like Star Wars wherein Star Wars:  A New Hope was the first to be made into a movie.  Whichever case, this 13-year tale is truly engaging and commendable.

5.  Takes the Undercover Concept in Crime Thrillers to a Whole New Level

There have been a lot of crime thrillers wherein the main character or characters are deep undercover.  Even on TV, I remember a series in the late 80s called Wiseguy starring Ken Wahl wherein he becomes the right hand man and even the best friend of the mob boss in the show.  However, it is rare to have a gang member become a high-ranking cop in both the movies and TV.  The IA trilogy takes the undercover concept to a whole new level.  It pits the two moles against each other and joins the two moles against a bigger foe.  IA also takes the audience to the moles’ experiences of rising in rank and, in order to survive, become comrades with their enemies in the camps they are in. 

The one scene I like in IA is when Yan and Ming meet anonymously not as a cop and a triad but as music aficionados.  Ming comes in an audio products store where Yan assists him buy a reasonable stereo component that plays the oldies impeccably.  The two share a brief pause from the war not realizing they are on opposite camps.  We are all the same until we choose between good or evil.  Among the characters, Ming gets the most dreaded fate because he is the only one not true to the side he is on.  He tries to hold on and continue being a cop despite having his true roots as a triad.  All the other characters are faithful to the side they have chosen in the war even if they have to die being what they truly are. 

6.  Corn-gold Movie Score

Finally, amidst the war and gripping scenes going on in the trilogy is that beautiful music playing in the background.  That great musical score by Chan Kwong-Wing makes you want to watch this masterpiece again and again.  It helped elevate IA into a classic and added more emotion to the scenes in the movie.  To mention something similar, John Williams said in an interview before that he wanted to give Star Wars a corn-gold and classical movie score despite its being a science fiction movie.  His music is highlighted in the scene wherein Luke looks over the twin moons of Tatooine in the 1976 Star Wars:  A New Hope.  This is the same corn-gold treatment given to IA by composer Chan Kwong-Wing.  The movie score is a mix of classical, techno, Mediterranean-inspired guitar rock, 40s-like voice ballad and choir-vocals music.  The CD soundtracks of the three IA films also have three artistic covers.  It’s superb.

“You’ve come to the point of no return.”  So go on and watch this masterpiece.  As Yan and Ming said, “After this, everything will be okay.”