Matcollis This Movie Can Only Be Described With One Word.

Exoticalot People are voting emotionally.

Lela The tone of this movie is interesting -- the stakes are both dramatic and high, but it's balanced with a lot of fun, tongue and cheek dialogue.

Brooklynn There's a more than satisfactory amount of boom-boom in the movie's trim running time.

SquigglyCrunch Infernal Affairs follows the police department as they attempt to find the criminal mole in their midst while the opposing gang attempts to find the undercover mole in their group. If you ask me this is a pretty awesome concept. Neither side is able to get anywhere with the other because they're both constantly receiving information from the other. It's a conflict that can't end with either side winning until they take action specifically against their opposing moles. I'm not doing it justice, but it's pretty cool.Unfortunately, it doesn't handle it nearly as well as it could. The acting, for starters, is okay. Sometimes it's good, sometimes it's bland. It really depends. Most of the time it was pretty good, but it does falter enough for it to matter. The movie suffers from it's lack of ability to develop any of the characters or their relationships. Some of them have romantic relationships that are treated like a major part of the story, but they're so poorly written and unfocused that it makes it hard to really care about them. My biggest frustration with the movie is the editing. It's hilarious how dated it is. Multiple scenes end with a still frame while dialogue continues to play, followed by the screen fading to black. When did this movie come out? 2002? Yeah, it's a little late for that. Clearly someone didn't get the memo. Overall Infernal Affairs has an awesome concept that it couldn't quite pull off. The writing and characters aren't fleshed out enough, and the editing is hilariously dated. In the end I'd really only recommend this movie to a handful of people.

MartinHafer This film begins with two men in the police academy. Yan (Tony Leung) is drummed out for some rules violation--though he is actually going deep undercover to join the mob and infiltrate it for the police. Lau (Andy Lau) is the opposite--a seemingly exemplary cop who's been planted in the academy by the mob! Soon the mob plant is an important inspector working for Internal Affairs and sending his mob boss all the police moves against the organization and the only one who seems to have a prayer in finding him is Yan...and both are looking to unmask each other. But who will find out the identity of the other first? Plus, Yan's job soon becomes a lot more difficult when his one and only police contact, Superintendent Wong, is murdered! Now no one in the police force knows who he is or can offer him any help...and everyone thinks Lau is beyond reproach and the full power of the Force is behind him...as well as the mob.This film surprised me. After all, I'd already seen the Americanized version of this film, "The Departed" and didn't love the film (despite it's many Oscars). However, "Infernal Affairs" was a much, much better film--with characters that made more sense as well as a profoundly sad and moving ending. Overall, it's one of the best films from Hong Kong I have had the pleasure of seeing and strongly recommend you give it a try.

banyaaaan-t This is a story about two young guys. One is a police officer and he infiltrates a mafia. Other is a member of the mafia but works as a police officer. Both of them have done well and tried to get helpful information, hiding their identity for several years. However, because of an affair, police and the mafia notice there are spies in each organization... The heart beating doesn't stop. The story develops in good rhythm. Audiences can't take our eyes off. This film doesn't devote too much visual effect, that's good. The scenario is perfect and we can enjoy this high quality thriller. The Departed is also good but I like this better.

Sean Lamberger The inspiration behind Scorsese's Oscar-winning The Departed, this Hong Kong original contains the core fabric of that story but few of its offshoots. It's strictly the tale of two double-agents, working both sides of the law in a desperate race to be the last man discovered, as the stakes climb steep and swift. Rapid and concise, it speeds impressively through some very tricky waters, effectively ratcheting the tension to an almost-unbearable level through both plot and cinematography. As a non-Mandarin speaker, it's often tough to keep pace with the lightning-quick subtitles, but strong performances from the two yin-and-yang leads saves the day on more than one occasion. Ballsy and cold-hearted, I wish the American adaptation hadn't spoiled so many of the twists for me. I have a hunch the ending would've been twice as jolting if it hadn't.