DVD Reviews: Infernal Affairs                      Genre: World Movies: Hong Kong: Drama

This is the gripping tale of good cop and bad cop, set in the seedy streets of the Hong Kong underworld, the Triads, and a determined police force who are keen at stopping the drug trade with the Thais from continuing. There's only one small problem and that is that there is a mole in both the police force and the Triads. Both are cops and both know of the existence of the other, just not their identity. 

The feature is really well paced, wrapping up with a running time of approximately 97 minutes, with no feel of the story dragging out at all, nor was it too short for that matter. There's a true feeling of cat and mouse all the way through the title and there are enough suprises throughout that you as the viewer are on edge waiting for the next shock. 

Infernal Affairs is really well acted out by it's principal actors and you will surprisingly find yourself sympathising with both the good and bad cop as things are not always the way they seem and it's possible to see where and why loyalties might have become confused at some stage. 

The movie is presented as pretty grim and gritty and didn't seem to rely too much on special effects to get your pulse racing. Powerhouse performances by the two main actors, Andy Lau and Tony Leung bring you to not only like both leads, but also sympathise with Lau's character who is a mole planted by the Triad into the police force. Retrospectively it's easy to imagine the torment felt by Leung's character Yan who wants nothing more to be a cop and who is sent to join and infiltrate the Triads whilst under the pretense of being thrown out of police school.

Quite simply put, this is one movie that you don't want to miss, and the ending is one that will leave you breathless!

Get it!

With the choice of Cantonese Dolby Digital and DTS 5.1, there's absolutely nothing to complain about here. This comes to amazing life during a huge shootout in the streets. I can't give any more details as it's during a major part in the story.

It's a great package here that will entertain and inform. There's a great little making of featurette here that illustrates the way that the actors felt about their characters, each other and the movie in general. It's not really a making of but does illustrate the state of mind that was entered into to make this movie. To get more out of the general making of, check out the Confidential File extra.

To see what might have happened, check out the Alternative Ending. I found this to be a bit too short and agreed with the ending actually shown on the feature.

The rest is more or less standard filler, albeit interesting to see how the film was promoted around the world with it's trailers. There is a fairly uninspiring music video on offer and of course some Eastern Eye trailers as well. All said and done a well rounded extras package.