Infernal Affairs

Infernal Affairs is a 2002 Hong Kong crime thriller film directed by Andrew Lau and Alan Mak and written by Mak and Felix Chong. It tells the story of a police officer who infiltrates a Triad, and another officer secretly working for the same gang. It is the first in the Infernal Affairs series and is followed by Infernal Affairs II and Infernal Affairs III.

Not to be confused with the 1990 American film Internal Affairs.
For the album by the Danish dance group Infernal, see Infernal Affairs (album). For the film series, see Infernal Affairs (film series).

Infernal Affairs
Theatrical release poster
Traditional無間道
Simplified无间道
Directed byAndrew Lau
Alan Mak
Produced byAndrew Lau
Written byAlan Mak
Felix Chong
StarringAndy Lau
Tony Leung
Edison Chen
Anthony Wong
Eric Tsang
Music byChan Kwong-wing
CinematographyAndrew Lau
Lai Yiu-fai
Edited byDanny Pang
Curran Pang
Production
company
Distributed byMedia Asia Distribution
Release date
  • 12 December 2002 (2002-12-12)
Running time
101 minutes
CountryHong Kong
LanguageCantonese
BudgetUS$6.4 million[1]
Box officeHK$55.1 million
Infernal Affairs
Traditional Chinese無間道
Simplified Chinese无间道
Literal meaning"Unceasing Path"

The Chinese title means "The Unceasing Path", a reference to Avici, the lowest level of Hell in Buddhism, where one endures suffering incessantly. The English title is a word play, combining the adjective 'infernal' (concerning hell) with internal affairs – the police department concerned with investigating its own officers.

Pre-release publicity focused on its star-studded cast (Andy Lau, Tony Leung, Anthony Wong, Edison Chen, Eric Tsang, Sammi Cheng and Kelly Chen), but the film later received critical acclaim for its original plot and its concise and swift storytelling style.

The film had been selected as the Hong Kong entry for the Best Foreign Language Film at the 76th Academy Awards but was not nominated. Miramax Films acquired the United States distribution rights and gave it a limited US theatrical release in 2004. Martin Scorsese remade the film in 2006 as The Departed, which won the Academy Award for Best Picture. An Indian remake of the film is also in the works.[2]

Plot

Chan Wing-yan, a police officer, goes undercover into an organized crime triad; only his direct superior, Superintendent Wong, is aware of his mission and true identity. Around the same time, Lau Kin-ming, a triad member, infiltrates the Hong Kong Police Force on the orders of a powerful gang boss, Hon Sam. Each mole has been planted by the rival organisation to gain an advantage over the other side. Over the course of ten years, Chan experiences great stress from his undercover work while Lau quickly rises through the ranks in the police department.

Using Morse code, Chan is able to relay data back to the police. However, Lau alerts Sam, giving him enough time to order his minions to dispose of the evidence. After the incident, both Wong and Sam are tasked with finding the moles in their respective organization.

Wong intends to pull Chan out of undercover work for fear of his safety. However, Wong is caught by Sam's men and is killed when he is thrown off a building, having refused to reveal Chan despite a beating from the gangsters.

Through this incident, Lau retrieves Wong's cell phone and contacts Chan; both of them agree to foil a drug deal by Sam. The plan succeeds and many of Sam's men are arrested, while Lau betrays Sam and murders him. Everything seems to have returned to normal. However, back at police headquarters, Chan discovers that Lau was the mole and leaves immediately.

Chan and Lau meet on the same rooftop where Wong was killed earlier. Chan disarms Lau and holds a pistol to his head as a rebuke to Lau's plea for forgiveness and request to remain a cop. Inspector B arrives on the scene shortly and orders Chan to release Lau. Chan holds Lau as a hostage at gunpoint and backs into the lift, but upon moving his head from behind Chan is suddenly shot in the head by B, who then reveals to Lau that he is also a mole planted by Hon. As they take the lift down to the lobby, Lau kills B out of his desire to eradicate traces of his past, become a "good guy" cop, and end the mole hunt. Stepping out of the lift, Lau shows his identity card to the police to identify himself as one of them.

Months after Chan's death, his psychiatrist Lee discovers records revealing Chan's true identity as an undercover police officer; B becomes a scapegoat for Lau as the real mole in the police force and the case is closed. Lau salutes Chan at his funeral. A flashback reaffirms the point at which Lau wished he had taken a different route in life.

As Mainland China and Malaysia have restrictions that villains should be punished in the end, another ending is broadcast that Lau is announced that his identity has been uncovered and is arrested as the police arrive, which would make the plots of the sequels incoherent.

Cast
  • Andy Lau as Senior Inspector Lau Kin-ming (劉健明), Hon's mole in the police force.
  • Tony Leung as Chan Wing-yan (陳永仁), an undercover cop in Hon's triad.
  • Anthony Wong as Superintendent Wong Chi-shing (黃志誠), Chan's superior.
  • Eric Tsang as Hon Sam (韓琛), the triad boss and main antagonist.
  • Chapman To as "Silly" Keung (傻強), Hon's henchman.
  • Gordon Lam as Inspector B (大B; Big B), Lau's subordinate who is also a mole in the police force.
  • Sammi Cheng as Mary, Lau's fiancée.
  • Kelly Chen as Lee Sum-yee (李心兒), Chan's psychiatrist.
  • Berg Ng as Senior Inspector Cheung (張Sir), Wong's subordinate.
  • Wan Chi-keung as Officer Leung (梁Sir), the chief superintendent of the internal affairs department.
  • Dion Lam as Del Piero, Hon's henchman.
  • Elva Hsiao as May, Chan's ex-girlfriend.

Reception

Infernal Affairs garnered mainly positive reviews from film critics and audiences. Feedback for the film has been overwhelmingly positive, with an approval rating of 94% on review website Rotten Tomatoes. The website's critical consensus remarks the film as, "Smart and engrossing, this is one of Hong Kong's better cop thrillers"[3] While an overwhelming majority of viewers praised the film, a few film critics complained of the generic and forgettable plot-line.[4] With regard to film's overall design, movie critics point that the moral dilemmas and emotional elements of the film were the main attributions that transformed the “somewhat unoriginal plot” into a success .[5]

The film received a score of 75 on the critical aggregator website Metacritic, indicating "generally favorable reviews".[6]

Awards

Infernal Affairs won seven out of the sixteen awards it was nominated for at the 22nd Hong Kong Film Awards, beating Zhang Yimou's Hero for the Best Film award. It also won Best Picture awards in the Golden Horse Awards and the Golden Bauhinia Awards among other awards too. It was ranked No. 30 in Empire magazine's "The 100 Best Films of World Cinema" in 2010.[7] It is the highest ranked Hong Kong film on Internet Movie Database's Top 250 movies list.

Box office

Infernal Affairs has grossed HK $55,057,176 in Hong Kong and USD $169,659 in North America. Globally, it has grossed $8,708,932. It is ranked 181 in worldwide yearly 2004 and 9,979 in all-time domestic.[8] Comparing to 'Infernal Affairs', The Departed, which is the remake of Infernal Affairs in the US, has grossed HK $1,039,728 in Hong Kong and USD $132,384,315 in North America. Globally, The Departed has grossed $291,465,034. It is ranked 14 in worldwide yearly 2006 and 422 in all-time domestic.[9]

Awards and nominations
List of Accolades
Award / Film Festival Category Recipient(s) Result
Udine Far East Film Festival Audience Award Andrew Lau
Alan Mak		 Won
Asia Pacific Film Festival Best Sound Kinson Tsang Won
46th Blue Ribbon Awards Best Foreign Language Film Andrew Lau
Alan Mak		 Won
Belgian Syndicate of Cinema Critics Grand Prix Nominated
40th Golden Horse Awards Best Picture Won
Best Director Andrew Lau
Alan Mak		 Won
Best Actor Tony Leung Won
Best Supporting Actor Anthony Wong Won
Best Sound Effects Kinson Tsang King-Cheung Won
Viewer's Choice Award Won
Best Actor Andy Lau Nominated
Best Original Screenplay Alan Mak
Felix Chong		 Nominated
Best Film Editing Danny Pang
Pang Ching-Hei		 Nominated
Best Cinematography Andrew Lau
Lai Yiu-Fai		 Nominated
Best Art Direction Choo Sung Pong
Wong Ching-Ching		 Nominated
Best Action Choreography Dion Lam Dik-On Nominated
Best Visual Effects Christopher Doyle Nominated
8th Golden Bauhinia Awards Best Picture Won
Best Director Andrew Lau
Alan Mak		 Won
Best Actor Tony Leung Won
Best Actor Andy Lau Nominated
Best Supporting Actor Anthony Wong Won
Best Original Screenplay Alan Mak
Felix Chong		 Won
9th Hong Kong Film Critics Society Awards Film of Merit Won
Best Actor Anthony Wong Won
22nd Hong Kong Film Awards Best Film Won
Best Director Andrew Lau
Alan Mak		 Won
Best Screenplay Alan Mak
Felix Chong		 Won
Best Actor Tony Leung Won
Best Actor Andy Lau Nominated
Best Supporting Actor Anthony Wong Won
Best Supporting Actor Eric Tsang Nominated
Best Supporting Actor Chapman To Nominated
Best Cinematography Andrew Lau
Lai Yiu-Fai		 Nominated
Best Film Editing Danny Pang
Pang Ching Hei		 Won
Best Costume Design Lee Pik-Kwan Nominated
Best Action Choreography Dion Lam Nominated
Best Original Film Score Chan Kwong Wing Nominated
Best Original Film Song Song: "Infernal Affairs"

Composer: Ronald Ng
Lyrics: Albert Leung
Sung by: Tony Leung, Andy Lau

 Won
Best Sound Design Kinson Tsang King-Cheung Nominated
Best Visual Effects Christopher Doyle Nominated

Music

The original film score for Infernal Affairs was written and performed by Chan Kwong-wing.

Track listing
No.TitleArtist(s)Length
1."Entering The Inferno"Chan Kwong-wing2:06
2."If I Were Him"Chan Kwong-wing1:36
3."Goodbye Master"Chan Kwong-wing2:18
4."Who Are You?"Chan Kwong-wing2:44
5."Let Me Quit"Chan Kwong-wing1:32
6."I Dreamt About You"Chan Kwong-wing1:23
7."Salute"Chan Kwong-wing1:56
8."Mission Abort"Chan Kwong-wing4:31
9."I Am A Cop!"Chan Kwong-wing3:26
10."You Are The Only One"Chan Kwong-wing1:06
11."I Want To Be A Good Guy"Chan Kwong-wing3:30
12."Goodbye Master, Goodbye"Chan Kwong-wing1:56
13."The Inferno"Chan Kwong-wing1:51

The theme song, Infernal Affairs (無間道), was composed by Ronald Ng, lyrics provided by Albert Leung, and performed in Cantonese and Mandarin by Andy Lau and Tony Leung.

Although not included in the soundtrack, Tsai Chin's (蔡琴) song "Forgotten Times" (《被遺忘的時光》) features prominently in this film as a recurring element of its storyline, and also in its sequels.

Adaptations

With star power, visual allure and an engaging script, Andrew Lau and Alan Mak’s Infernal Affairs /《無間道》(2002) did very well critically and financially, spawned two sequels and a television series, and attracted the attention of Hollywood.[10] In 2003, Brad Pitt's production company Plan B Entertainment acquired the rights for a Hollywood remake, named The Departed, which was directed by Martin Scorsese, and starred Leonardo DiCaprio, Matt Damon, Jack Nicholson, and Mark Wahlberg, set in Boston, Massachusetts, roughly based on the life of famed Boston mobster James "Whitey" Bulger. The Departed was released on 6 October 2006 and won the Academy Award for Best Picture. Andrew Lau, the co-director of Infernal Affairs, who was interviewed by Hong Kong newspaper Apple Daily, said: "Of course I think the version I made is better, but the Hollywood version is pretty good too. [Scorsese] made the Hollywood version more attuned to American culture." Andy Lau,[11] one of the main actors in Infernal Affairs, when asked how the movie compares to the original, said: "The Departed was too long and it felt as if Hollywood had combined all three Infernal Affairs movies together."[12] Lau pointed out that the remake featured some of the "golden quotes" of the original but did have much more swearing. He ultimately rated The Departed 8/10 and said that the Hollywood remake is worth a view, though according to Lau's spokeswoman Alice Tam, he felt that the combination of the two female characters into one in The Departed was not as good as the original storyline.[13]

Lau, Tsang, and Cheung parodied the cinema scene to promote the Hong Kong Film Awards. Lau and Tsang, in their respective characters, go through the scene where they meet to gather info on the undercover cop amongst Hon Sam's gang. Lau Kin-ming asks Hon "Why do we always meet in a cinema?", to which Hon answers "It's quiet. No one comes to movies". Cheung comes out from the shadows behind them and says "I don't know...quite a few people watch movies" and we see a slew of Hong Kong celebrities watching various clips of Hong Kong films on the screen. Originally Tony Leung was going to appear but scheduling conflicts led to the recasting.

The 2003 TVB spoof celebrating the Chinese New Year called Mo Ba To (吐氣羊眉賀新春之無霸道), the 2004 comedy film Love Is a Many Stupid Thing by Wong Jing, and the 2004 TVB television drama Shades of Truth were re-writings based on the plot of the film.

In Taiwan SHODA (劉裕銘) and a secondary school student Blanka (布蘭卡) cut and rearranged the original film and inserted new sound tracks to produce their videos Infernal Affairs CD pro2 and Infernal Affairs iPod on the web. The videos had many views and both producers removed their videos after receiving cease and desist letters from the Group Power Workshop Limited (群體工作室), the Taiwan distributor of the film.[14]

Media Asia released a limited edition of eight-DVD set of the Infernal Affairs trilogy in an Ultimate Collectible Boxset (無間道終極珍藏DVD系列(8DVD套裝)) on 20 December 2004. Features included an online game and two Chinese fictional novels of the film series by Lee Muk-Tung (李牧童), titled 無間道I+II小說 ISBN 962-672-259-2 and 無間道III終極無間小說 ISBN 962-672-271-1.

The hi-fi shop scene was later recreated with additions of excerpts of the film to encourage businesses to join the Quality Tourism Services Scheme in Hong Kong.[15]

In 2009, a Korean remake City of Damnation, which was directed by Kim Dong-won was released on 22 January 2009.[16] In 2009, a Telugu remake Homam, which directed and acted by JD Chakravarthy along with Jagapathi Babu was released and became a notable movie.[17][18] In 2012, Double Face (ダブルフェイス), a Japanese television remake starring Hidetoshi Nishijima was released by TBS and WOWOW.[19] The production aired in two parts: "Police Impersonation" on WOWOW and "Undercover" on TBS.

A TV series remake debuted in 2018 produced by Media Asia and former TVB producer Tommy Leung. The series, which is titled Infernal Affairs like the film, stars Gallen Lo, Damian Lau, Paul Chun, Lo Hoi-pang, Eric Tsang, Derek Kok, Dominic Lam, Toby Leung and Yuen Biao.[20] The TV series uses the same concept as the film, but with an entirely new story and characters, and the setting expanded beyond Hong Kong to include Thailand and Shezhen. It stretched through three seasons with each season consisting of 12 episodes.[21]

A Hindi remake is in progress and is produced by Mumbai-based production Azure Entertainment and Warner Bros India[22]

The success of the film inspired many genres, including an open-world video game from United Front Games titled Sleeping Dogs (or True Crime: Hong Kong before canceled by Activision Blizzard in 2011),[23] with the protagonist of the story infiltrating the criminal underworld as an undercover police.

See also

References
  1. Infernal Affairs vs. The Departed
  2. "Warner, Azure Partner for India Remake of 'Infernal Affairs'". 25 September 2017.
  3. "MOU GAAN DOU (INFERNAL AFFAIRS)". Rotten Tomatoes. Retrieved 29 March 2018.
  4. Mckay, Brian. "Infernal Affairs". efilmcritic. Retrieved 29 March 2018.
  5. Khaw, Winnie. "'Infernal Affairs' (2002) Movie Review". Reel Rundown. Retrieved 29 March 2018.
  6. "Infernal Affairs, critics' reviews". Metacritic. 10 September 2004. Retrieved 28 April 2020.
  7. "The 100 Best Films of World Cinema – 30. Infernal Affairs". Empire. 11 June 2010.
  8. "Infernal Affairs (2004) - Box Office Mojo". www.boxofficemojo.com. Retrieved 29 March 2018.
  9. "The Departed (2006) - Box Office Mojo". www.boxofficemojo.com. Retrieved 29 March 2018.
  10. Marchetti, Gina (2010). "Chapter 9: Departing from The Departed: The Infernal Affairs Trilogy". In Louie, Kam (ed.). Hong Kong Culture: Word and Image. Hong Kong University Press. pp. 147–169. ISBN 978-988-220-613-7.
  11. "My Infernal Affairs is better than Scorsese's says Lau". London: The Guardian. 10 October 2006. Retrieved 10 October 2006.
  12. "Andy Lau comments on The Departed (Chinese)". 6 October 2006. Archived from the original on 16 December 2006. Retrieved 6 October 2006.
  13. "Andy Lau Gives 'Departed' an 8 Out of 10". 7 October 2006. Archived from the original on 16 December 2006. Retrieved 7 October 2006.
  14. 陳俍任：電影「無間道」搞怪版始作俑者「CD-PRO2版」作者，接獲在台發行商的警告信，《聯合報》。2004-06-06
  15. "DiscoverHongKong – Interactive Gallery – Video Clips – Index". Discoverhongkong.com. Archived from the original on 28 July 2008. Retrieved 5 July 2009.
  16. "City of Damnation". Imdb.com. Retrieved 22 June 2011.
  17. "Hong Kong Classic Infernal Affairs Set For an Indian Remake". News18. Retrieved 29 March 2018.
  18. Tartaglione, Nancy (25 September 2017). "Warner Bros India Preps 'Infernal Affairs' Remake With Azure Entertainment". Deadline. Retrieved 29 March 2018.
  19. ダブルフェイス・イントロダクション (TBS Introduction to Double Face). Retrieved 20 September 2012. (in Japanese)
  20. http://www.starhub.com/personal/how-to/4-reasons-to-watch-infernal-affairs-tv-series.html
  21. Loong, Wai Ting (2017). "TV version of Infernal Affairs". Retrieved 29 March 2018.
  22. Shackleton, Liz (2017). "Hindi remake of 'Infernal Affairs' in the works". Retrieved 29 March 2018.
  23. Sleeping Dogs, by United Front Games - The New York Times
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