Review of Infernal Affairs (2002) by Kenneth H — 12 Jan 2010

A thrilling, fast-paced movie that introduces a story as tense and exciting as it is novel.

I have to compare it to The Departed here. I like how, as opposed to where The Departed dawdles around and spends a lot of time focusing on Boston and Sgt. Dignam's foul antics, Infernal Affairs just cuts straight to the damn point, and portrays the story in an appropriately brooding, dark manner. Also, Ming's wanting to be a good guy is more developed than Sullivan's in Departed. Conversely, by doing so it sacrifices a lot of the setting and character depth that made Departed so great (though I imagine a lot of that is in the two sequels) and it loses entertainment value from not being as, well, goofy as Departed. On the whole, they're both great movies and I'd rate them the same - they just represent two different styles of approach to the same brilliant storyline.