Review by Leonard Norwitz
Studio:
Theatrical: Media Asia Films, Tianjin Film
Studio & Basic Pictures
Blu-ray: MegaStar (Hong Kong)
Disc:
Region: A
Runtime: 117 min
Chapters: 20
Size: 25 GB
Case: Standard Blu-ray case.
Release date: April 25, 2008
Video:
Aspect ratio: 2.35:1
Resolution: 1080p
Video codec: AVC
Audio:
Cantonese DTS-HD Master Audio 6.1, Cantonese DD
EX 5.1, Mandarin DD EX 5.1
Subtitles:
Feature: Traditional Chinese, Simplified
Chinese, English. Bonus Features: None.
Extras:
• Making of . . .Documentary
• Trailers in HD
The Film:
8
The blockbuster thriller, Infernal Affairs,
almost single-handedly revived the Hong Kong
gangster film back in 2002. It was so successful
that it spawned two back-to-back sequels before
Martin Scorsese's The Departed, could get the
drop on a largely unsuspecting English-speaking
public. The action of Infernal Affairs II
provides considerable backstory to the first
movie, fleshing out the early days of the two
young moles. At its release, many regretted the
loss of Tony Leung and Andy Lau and - unfairly,
I thought - damned the sequel for their absence.
The relative youth and inexperience of Shawn Yu
and Edison Chen, who play the Leung and Lau
characters: Yan (think: DiCaprio) and Ming (Matt
Damon) and was seen as unfortunate.
Perhaps for that reason, IA-III brings back
Leung and Lau to get more into the thick of
their moleish activities. Along with
reappearances of various lengths of Anthony Wong
as Inspector Wong and Eric Tsang as Sam, as well
as the irrepressible Chapman To as Keung, a new
figure emerges to complicate matters: Leon Lai
as Superintendent Inspector Wing, Meanwhile,
Ming tries to cover his tracks with an ever
increasing body count among the Triads while
sorting out possible moles among the police.
IA-III reverts to the fast-paced suspense of the
original – though since we would already have
seen the first movie (and that is, I believe,
the order these should be seen in) we know how
everything comes out, making it less of an
edge-of-one's sense thriller. On the other hand,
most film buffs see movies they like multiple
times, so there you have it! Scorsese apparently
ignored the first sequel altogether, as The
Departed makes use of some of the threads of
IA-III, notably the relationship between Yan,
Ming and the psychiatrist, one of the more
jarring and least convincing aspects of his
translation.
[The following is an edited excerpt from
David McCoy's comment on DVDBeaver
HERE}: Since the backstory involving
the two moles was as fascinating as what they
did in the “present”, Infernal Affairs II was
drafted as a prequel. Infernal Affairs III
details events following what happened in the
first Infernal Affairs. Not only did these
decisions provide a before-and-after appraisal
of the characters’ lives, they also gave the
characters a defining sense of closure.
You don’t need to have seen Infernal Affairs II
to understand Infernal Affairs III. However, you
will be very lost if you don’t see Infernal
Affairs III soon after seeing the first Infernal
Affairs. The third movie is heavily dependent on
a great degree of familiarity with the events in
the first outing. As a whole, the series takes
place out of order, with the “origin story”
appearing as the second movie. Chronologically
speaking, the events in Infernal Affairs III
take place after the events in Infernal Affairs,
but several sequences backtrack to when the
story in the first movie was unfolding.
This may seem confusing, but after the initial
shock wears off, part of the pleasure of
watching this installment is figuring out where
the pieces of the third movie fit into the
overall narrative. As the movie shifts in time,
we get to know other members of the police
force, other moles, and various strategies used
by all sides.
Excerpt of review from DVD Beaver located HERE
Image:
8.5 (8~8.5/10)
The score of 8.5 indicates a relative level of
excellence compared to other Blu-ray DVDs. The
score in parentheses represents: first, a value
on a ten-point scale for the image in absolute
terms; and, second, how that image compares to
what I believe is the current best we can expect
in the theatre.
MegaStar's R0 DVD of IA-III was pretty good,
better in some ways than their edition of the
original movie, though not as good as IA-II for
some reason. The first movie showed a moderate
degree of desaturation, which was appropriate
and softness, which I think, wasn't. MegaStar's
R) SD was pretty good, but you can see how the
Blu-ray has less contrast, allowing for more
variation in tone and texture. Both sequels on
Megastar's R0 SD had stronger images, and are
better still on Blu-ray, with the best of show
being IA-II.
Audio & Music:
8/8
Since I first reviewed the Blu-ray of Infernal
Affairs, I've installed a respectable surround
system. I had previously noted that in 2-channel
mode: while the soundtrack was not of the kind
of demonstration quality of the best "Hollywood"
blockbusters, it was more than adequate to the
task. But more to the point, the mix was a huge
improvement over MegaStar's own R0 SD. Contrast,
dynamics, frequency extension and clarity are
all much better on the Blu-ray.
The music is by Chan Kwong Wing, who more
recently composed the scores for Flash Point and
The Warlords. Quite naturally, there are
important thematic and stylistic similarities
for all three parts of the trilogy – one being
that it functions as a part of the audio mix as
much as provides mood. Compared to his work for
the original film, this new audio mix is fatter
and louder, especially on Blu-ray, as if trying
too hard to make itself felt in its own right.
Operations:
6
MegaStar upgraded its logo (always an eyesore on
their 480i DVDs) for these sequels to HD. Much
nicer, thank you. The expandable chapter
thumbnails are clear and monochromatic – a nice
touch, I thought. The Smart Menus (in English
and Chinese) are straightforward and easy to
use, except that just when it seems that all is
well, we find that we can't return from the
bonus features by clicking on either the top
menu or by skipping chapters. Good thing my PS3
has a super fast forward scan.
Subtitles: 5
Obviously, my praise of MegaStar's subtitling on
the first Infernal Affairs and my distress at
their subsequent effort for Initial D went
unheeded. (Should I be surprised!) The
subtitling appeared below the frame on the
original Blu-ray, but partly in and partly below
for the sequels. On the other hand, I noticed
fewer typos on this new release.
Extras:
3
The extras are all in Chinese without subtitles,
as they are on MegaStar's R0 DVD box set and as
they were on MegaStar's BRD of Infernal Affairs.
The extras included here also appear on the
North American R1 release from Genius Products,
which are subtitled in English. The "Making of .
. " documentary isn't all that difficult to
follow even without subtitles, but if you must
know what is being said, you could always rent
the U.S. SD edition. Both of these featurettes
are in SD and move readily from letterboxed to
4:3 images. I should mention that the five
trailers are all in HD, most interesting will
probably be the one for The Warlords, Jet Li's
latest epic – not so much a martial arts film,
as an ancient war movie: The monochromatic image
is stunning on BRD – something like 300, if you
like that sort of thing.
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Bottom line:
8
I thought less of IA-III the first time I saw
it, but started to come around when I revisited
it last night on Blu-ray. I shouldn't have been
surprised. The Blu-ray is gorgeous – much better
looking and sounding than the original movie for
demo purposes. Thumbs Up.
Leonard Norwitz
June 1, 2008
