Infernal Affairs (2002)

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Infernal Affairs is a tense, urban thriller that, apart from its preposterously high concept, could occur in any large city. Sam (Eric Tsang) is a triad leader who decides to raise up his own cops rather than buying them. He sends young gang members without records off to the police academy. Lau (Andy Lau Tak Wah) is one of these. Meanwhile, Yan (Tony Leung Chiu Wai) is a smart young police cadet selected by S. P. Wong (Anthony Wong Chau Sang) to go undercover. He's kicked out of the academy and his records are wiped.

Ten years pass. Yan is still undercover. He has been working for Sam for three years. Lau has risen to inspector in the CIB (Criminal Investigation Bureau, I believe) and is Sam's golden boy.

Sam has a big drug deal in the works and Wong decides that is the time to take him down on delivery of the narcotics. If this was the only good scene in the film, this sequence would make the movie worth seeing. In one room is Sam, with his men, making a buy from the Thai dealers. Across the street another room is filled with OCTB (Organized Crime and Triad Bureau) and CIB run by Wong. When Wong announces the channel, Lau, who is watching the cell phones, text messages Sam with the frequency. Sam can hear every police transmission. Yan taps out updates to Wong on wired glass. When Sam tells Keung and Del Piero to drive around in circles because they are being tailed, Yan has to warn Wong and find out the delivery location. When Wong changes the frequency, Lau has to figure out how to warn Sam. In a game of cat and mouse and cat and mouse, it becomes clear to each that he has a traitor.

In the aftermath, the police and Sam find it imperative to ferret out their respective moles. Lau is transferred to Internal Affairs and put in charge of the police investigation. He's also Sam's best resource and put in charge finding Sam's undercover, as well.

Lau and Yan don't wisecrack their way through this movie. There is occasional mild humor of the sort co-workers share and there is Keung (Chapman To Man Chat). Keung is a likable young triad who sees undercovers everywhere, sometimes correctly.

The acting is uniformly excellent with Hong Kong Film Award nominations for Leung and Lau for best actor and supporting actor nominations for To, Tsang and Wong. The cinematography and production design emphasize the contrast between Lau and Yan. Lau has a loving fiancee and a comfortable home; the life Yan should have had. Yan's home, if he has one, is never shown, only the family that might have been his.

Warner Brothers has reportedly paid 1.75 million dollars for the remake rights but why wait for the pale imitation? See the original. Then see it again.

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