The HK film industry isn't known for it's quality. Films are turned out very quickly. Editing is done on the fly. Production values are low. And the turnaround time from filming to theaters to home video is very short. Some directors and actors have done the opposite (many are now successful in Hollywood), but for the most part this is what we all love about the HK film industry and its films—it's all about the perfect moment.
In the past few years, HK films have begun to adopt a more Hollywood approach to filmmaking with higher production values and the use of sync sound and CGI. Some films make good use of this improvement, while others just look like repackaged versions of these earlier films. Films such as Shaolin Soccer have made good use of this technology; whereas, films such as The Touch just fail miserably and still others fall right in the middle (Legend of Zu, Storm Riders, and others).
That brings us to the recent Infernal Affairs, a very slickly done crime drama by the other Andrew Lau (Wai Keung who has done Bullets of Love, The Duel, and others). This film has quality written all over it. The main actors are Andy Lau (Tak Wah) and Tony Leung (Chiu Wai) with excellent support from Anthony Wong, Eric Tsang, and Kelly Chen, among others.
The editing is tight and pulses with style—very much Andrew Lau's trademark. The music is a good mix of orchestra with some techno thrown in, fits the mood perfectly.
Now on to the most important part and why you should see this film—Tony Leung and Andy Lau are the stars of this film.
Early in the film a very young Andy Lau enlists in the police force (Organized Crime and Triad Bureau no less!) to be a mole for a huge HK triad organization led by Eric Tsang. Concurrently, a very young Tony Leung is sent into that same triad world as a mole for the police (he joins Eric Tsang's gang)...damn does it get cool from there. The story jumps to present day and two much older characters who have been leading double lives for nearly a decade cross paths and from there you are taken into each of their lives and into an ending that will leave you shaking your head in disbelief.
There isn't much action in this film, it's all about the characters and their motives and the ending is jaw-dropping--you watch the ending and see right there the difference between HK films and U.S. films and that's what makes this film so good.
The DVD is an excellent 2-disc with a flawless anamorphic transfer, DTS sound (which accentuates the outstanding music very well) -- looks identical to the packaging used for other recent Mega Star releases such as The Touch.
Bottom line is while the world is focused on talking about Hero as the latest, greatest Chinese film, they should be talking about Infernal Affairs.
Note: the film is being remade in the U.S. with Brad Pitt (but who will he play?) I could see Ed Norton doing Tony Leung's role and Pitt doing Andy Lau's (a Fight Club reunion would be very welcomed).
