Review of Infernal Affairs (2002) by Jareth S — 11 Nov 2010

Superbly paced thriller, well thought out and executed nicely. The obvious comparisons must be made to Scorsese's adaptation but I was fortunate enough to have seen this prior to The Departed. Watching it again I realize that this version seems to move at a much faster pace and to me seems cleaner and less bloated than Departed.

Much of the material transfers from film to film, even down to dialogue. It really boils down to added characters, more depth to those characters, the coincidental relationship for DiCaprio and Damon with the same girl and Jack's way too over the top portrayal of Frank.

It just seems like The Departed was overly ambitious in scope whereas this film was cleaner and more freely flowing. Now technically I was very impressed by the score, there are several moments within the film in which no dialogue is used yet the score just keeps everything flowing, and adding tension.

The scene where Lau calls Yan just crackles. The other phenomenal job was in the cinematography. This film was simply beautiful. Some of the shots that were created are just magnificent. Simply stellar work! If you liked The Departed take some time to watch this, so worth it.