Infernal Affairs II

2003 "The Birth of a Legend."
7.2| 1h59m| R| en
Details

In this prequel to the original, a bloody power struggle among the Triads coincides with the 1997 handover of Hong Kong, setting up the events of the first film.

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Reviews

Plantiana Yawn. Poorly Filmed Snooze Fest.
GamerTab That was an excellent one.
Matialth Good concept, poorly executed.
Teringer An Exercise In Nonsense
KineticSeoul 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
david-sarkies 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.
ebiros2 This is the second installment of Infernal Affairs trilogy, and a prequel to part 1. In this movie the reason for Lau's association with Sam, and Sam's relation with Anthony Wong's character is fleshed out, and how Sam became the triad boss is also told. Edison Chen plays the role of young Lau in the police academy. Two new players Carina Lau, and Kelly Chan plays the role of Sam's wife, and a shrink who would play an important role in part 3.This is one of the best trilogy to be ever made in cinema history, that rivals and may surpass former greats like the God Father. Interesting that the whole drama sort of gets started with human weakness of Lau to various temptations. Although this is a prequel to the first installment, it stands on its own as a good movie, and even if you saw this first, you'd be impressed by the story.One part that's not immediately clear is that the character played by Edison Chen is young Lau, and I'm sure that threw many viewers as to what's going on.The good of this movie was Kelly Chan in her role as the psychologist. She was beautiful, and added key point to the story.If you've seen the other Infernal Affairs movie you'd definitely need to see this one. In fact, Part 3 doesn't make sense unless you've seen Part 2. Great movie to watch by any standards.
lastliberal Naturally, sequels are not usually as good as the original. The technically isn't a sequel, but a prequel, giving us a taste of what came before. It is mainly concerned with SP Wong (Anthony Wong) and Sam (Eric Tsang). They are much more friendly in this film - before they both get killed in Infernal Affairs.The original actors are replaced. Yan is Shawn Yue instead of Tony Leung, and Lau is Edison Chen instead of Andy Lau. It doesn't matter as they are minor characters in this movie.Francis Ng does a great job of the bosses son, and Carina Lau as Mary, who is in all three movies is superb as well. Kai Chi Liu as Uncle John and Chapman To also turn in good performances.Of course the music was just incredible!