Infernal Affairs debuts in US

[Ian_Lee]

Infernal Affairs is finally debutting in US theaters (NY & LA) tomorrow.

Already many movie critics are encouraging audience to watch the original rather than the remade version that is going to be directed by Martin Sorcese.

Here is the latest review from the current issue of Time magazine:

http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1101040927-699399,00.html

The relentless pace of Infernal Affairs, briskly spinning a story of two men on a collision course with their principles, offers lessons for Hollywood. This is how movies can move. This is how mature an action movie can be.

And in rottentomatoes.com (a very popular movie website), its approval rating is 93%. Read:

http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/infernal_affairs/

[roddy]

Have any of the big US (or any other foreign country for that matter) reviewed the second or third ones? I'd be interested to know if they got as fed up as me . . .

Roddy

[ChouDoufu]

And what is an infernal affair anyway? How could they name it that when it would have made more sense to be "internal affairs"? Most people I knew thought it was infernal afairs until it was pointed out that yes, it was an 'f' and not a 't' (they thought it was a typo on the 盗版's cover.

hk doesn't make many good movies anymore, so it's nice to know the decent one's get over there.

[Yang Rui]

I can't believe roddy got fed up with Infernal Affairs 2 and 3. I haven't seen 3 yet, but 2 is a fantastic film - a complex thriller that packs a real emotional punch. When people die in this film, you actually care about it, which is more than you can say for most other thrillers.

The Guardian (uk) review called IA 2 "gripping, supercool stuff" that could be "an Asian rival to The Godfather," although they did concede that it was "less engaging than the earlier film."

By the way, i think the word "infernal" is supposed to make you think of hell, because Wu Jian Dao (the Chinese title) is some layer of Buddhist hell. Or something. Please correct me if i'm wrong.

[skylee]

About the name "無間道", take a look at this. Essentially it means "a hell of incessant torture", thus "infernal".

片名之道·可怕的無間地獄

　　想知道這部影片的片名為何叫《無間道》，必須先要知道“無間”的意思。“無間”指無間地獄，無間地獄是一個專門名詞，出自《法華經》、《俱舍論》、《玄應音義》等佛經，又被譯作“阿鼻地獄”——那是音譯，梵文的拼音是“Avicinar Aka”，“阿鼻”的意思，就是無間。這個地獄是佛經故事中八大地獄之一，也是八大地獄之中最苦的一個，如同我們所說的十八層地獄的最底一層。據說，被打入無間地獄的，都是罪大惡極的人。他們在無間地獄之中，永遠沒有任何解脫的希望，除了受苦之外，絕無其他感受。無間地獄極大，廣漠無間，打入地獄的陰魂，無法脫出，永遠在地獄中受苦，作為生前窮凶極惡的報應。

　　那麼為什麼叫無間地獄？什麼是無間呢？據說，這與這個地獄裡的刑罰永不間斷有關。通常的理解中，無間就是不間斷的意思，無間地獄裡，這個不間斷的定義范圍有所擴大。傳說中這裡的無間有五種第一個叫“時無間”，意思是時間是沒有間斷的，也就是日夜受罪，從來沒有停止的時候。第二個是“空無間”，也就是說受刑的時間無間斷，空間一樣沒有間斷，不能由誰來替代你的，隻有你一個人從頭到尾受罪。第三個，是“罪器無間”，也就是刑罰的器具沒有間斷，不停用各式各樣的刑具用刑。第四個叫做“平等無間”，是指無論男女，不管你前世是什麼身份，同樣平等無間，都是平等的，同樣要受刑。第五個叫“生死無間”，是說不要以為死了就不再受刑。

　　本片以“無間道”作為片名，顯然寓意深刻。兩個身份都本不該屬於自己的人，他們幾乎生活在一個類似無間地獄的環境裡，做夢都怕別人拆穿自己的身份。這個世界裡，到底什麼才是生活的道理、做人的道理，角色的茫然也就是編導對這一問題的深入探討。進入無間地獄是沒有輪回的，只有永遠受苦，但片中的兩位主角卻在尋求輪回。

[Ian_Lee]

Roddy:

I also got bored with the "Matrix". I merely watched the original and its sequel "Reloaded" and so far I am not a bit interested in the finale "Revolution" even it showed here on the 50-cent theater.

[skylee]

You haven't missed anything, Ian. Matrix 3 is what I call the 割凳 type. And I feel the same as roddy about the two 'infernal' sequels.

[Ian_Lee]

Actually Infernal Affairs have 5 versions of ending. Read:

http://www.nydailynews.com/entertainment/story/234471p-201378c.html

'The end was the most difficult scene to shoot," said Lau. 'In Alan's script there was a fighting scene between Tony and Andy on the roof. But I was convinced that I just wanted pure tension, no fighting.

'We shot five endings. In some, both die; in others, neither of them are dead and they become friends. And for mainland China we changed it again."

The HK version I watched was "Good guy died and bad guy survived (and promoted)". So which version did you watch?

[Hann]

Jack Nicolson has now signed on to the Scorcese remake of Infernal Affairs to go along with Matt Damon and Leo Dicaprio.

It will be an irish-american gang this time, but any thoughts?

[Ian_Lee]

Has anyone watched "The Departed" (remake of Infernal Affairs)?

Movie critics say that is the best film ever made by Martin Scorsese. And it is even better than Infernal Affairs.

[Quest]

oh this was from sept 23, 2004? that long ago...

[Ian_Lee]

NYT movie review commented that Andy Lau and Tony Leung are better:

Fine as Mr. DiCaprio and Mr. Damon are, neither is strong enough to usurp memories of the actors who played the same roles in the original — Tony Leung as the good guy, Andy Lau as the bad — both of whom register with more adult assurance. That’s an observation, not an indictment. Comparisons between “Infernal Affairs” and its redo are unavoidable given how closely the screenwriter William Monahan follows the first film’s beats and scenes.

[Quest]

Saw it tonight, I knew too much about the plot and about Boston... The most memorable thing was the "OH's" from the audience whenever someone dies... also the very ABC-accentish Cantonese "mafia" acting as agents of the Chinese government. I think I like the "我是警察" version better. The line between good and evil isn't as blurry in the American version. If you have not seen the original, then this would probably be a very good movie with many surprising moments. For those who've seen the original, you would wish you haven't...

[laolee]

Here's an interview with one of the ABCs in The Departed. Haven't seen it yet, so I don't know if he's one of the guys you're referring to.

http://www.delawareonline.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20061011/SPARK/610110308/-1/NEWS01

[skylee]

I saw the Departed last weekend and I tend to agree with Quest. I think it is too long, too wordy and lacks the intensity of the original film. Those Chinese who try to speak in Cantonese are a joke. Unlike Andy Lau, Damon fails to express the yearning to be good in all the chaos. And it is not necessary to break Anthony Wong's role in two and the ending is what I dislike most. Evil should prevail in an incessant hell ...

Di Caprio is good, though. And I think it is clever to combine the two female roles.

And the film gets very good reviews on rottentomatoes.

[Jack MacKelly]

I already seen the Tony Leung and Eric Tsang, I haven't seen the Scorcese one but I'll check it out

[libertango]

I'm the type of person who would tend to prefer the foreign version of something... however, i didn't like Internal Affairs at all when I saw it. I saw the Departed, and thought it was great. To me, the only bad parts of the movie were story things that were preserved from the original.

[Quest]

To me, the only bad parts of the movie were xstoryx things that were preserved from the original.

Might as well go see a different movie?

[Ian_Lee]

On Feb 12 when "Departed" DVD was on the shelf in video and department store in US, "Infernal Affairs Trilogy" DVD was also put on the shelf on the same day. And now it ranks #111 on Amazon in terms of sales.