Matialth Good concept, poorly executed.

Executscan Expected more

Fatma Suarez The movie's neither hopeful in contrived ways, nor hopeless in different contrived ways. Somehow it manages to be wonderful

Isbel A terrific literary drama and character piece that shows how the process of creating art can be seen differently by those doing it and those looking at it from the outside.

Desertman84 Infernal Affairs II is a great movie but it never lived up to the standards of the first one which happens to be a masterpiece. It may not be a classic but still it has a great story in it. The film focuses on the youth of both Inspector Lau and Yan as moles of the police force and criminal organization run by Sam respectively. Aside from that, it also relates the story of the rise of Sam as the triad boss and his relationship with Inspector Wong,who belongs to the police organization and is determined to bring down his crime organization. The movie was interesting in the sense that we see two young people develop differently and how they turn out to be not the person they aspire to be. Aside from that, it also presents their personal and spiritual struggles that they encounter and the burden of the responsibility they carry in their everyday lives. The movie is highly recommended for everyone who loves the first movie. The acting is great inspite of the absence of the two main stars of the first film. The direction by Andrew Lau is still wonderful.

ajs-10 This is the second of the 'Infernal Affairs' trilogy, and is a prequel to the events portrayed in the 2002 film Infernal Affairs. Concentrating more on the Triads and the power struggle that ensues when one of their bosses is assassinated. In particular the rise of Hon Sam is portrayed here along with the relationships he develops within the Hong Kong police. More of this later, here's a brief summary first (summary haters, and those that don't wish to know about the plot, please take out another crime boss while I write the next paragraph).When the main Triad boss, Father Kwun is killed, his son, Ngai Wing Hau takes over the business. The other bosses don't agree at first but soon fall into line when they realise Hau is no pushover. Lower down the pecking-order, Hon Sam is just waiting for the opportunity to move up the ladder. He already has contacts inside the police force, including Inspector Wong Chi Shing, who would dearly love to take him down. Chan Wing Yan is an undercover cop installed in the gang to gain information on their activities. Sam is also grooming a young cop to be his inside man in the Police not realising that this young cop has a serious crush on his wife, Mary. As events progress more and more of the Triad bosses meet grizzly ends and it soon becomes a show-down between Sam, who has survived an attempt on his life in Thailand, and Hau. Will the Police have a say in the outcome though? I'll leave it there so as not to upset the Hong Kong Spoiler Police.This is a pretty well made film with some good performances and quite a nice soundtrack. It is quite violent and some of the violence is quite graphic in places. As I said, good performances, particularly from; Anthony Wong Chau-Sang as Inspector Wong Chi Shing, Eric Tsang who was excellent again as Hon Sam, Carina Lau as Mary Hon, Francis Ng as Ngai Wing Hau, Edison Chen as Officer Lau Kin Ming and Shawn Yue as Chan Wing Yan.Because it concentrates on the workings of the criminal elements, I felt this film was almost trying to be a Chinese version of 'The God Father'. It's clearly not as good as that, but there's enough double-dealing going on to make it a good candidate. I did find it a little too long, but it did keep my attention. Not as good as the first one, but still quite watchable… Recommended.My Score: 7.1/10

Superbeasto Taking a completely different approach to the original, this is a prequel that serves to flesh out the character backgrounds, mainly focusing on Sam's rise to power, and it does a very satisfying job.The cat and mouse tension of the original is missing, mainly because we all know what the status quo is going to be by the end, but it's still great to see the journey that took the characters there, and it lends a lot more weight to the relationships in the first film. The performances are again brilliant throughout, especially considering the intricacies of showing these characters develop into the people we recognise from the original, and it's a joy to see recognisable mannerisms coming to the surface as the film goes on.A proper gangster epic, and a great example of something genuinely worthwhile being done with a sequel.

movieman_kev Time hopping and "Godfather" homages are the order of the day in this prequel to the masterpiece of Infernal Affairs 1. Helping to flesh out the back story of Ming, Yan, Inspector Wong and future Triad boss Sam. Sam's rise to power is damn good, and Francis NG really came into his own with this film and proved he definitely has the chops as a rival Triad boss whom both sides want taken down. Also it's interesting to see how the rising of the 'bad guys' corresponds with the downfalls and hardships of the 'good guys'. Lines are blurred further then they were in the first film. But this film is very impenetrable if one hasn't seen the first film (and if you haven't, shame on you go buy/rent it NOW), hell it's still a tad confusing even if you did. And the original's fast pace is replaced by more of a methodical slow-burn (not to be mistaken for boring as this film is definitely not that). Despite the differences, this film remains the same awesome quality as the original and comes highly recommended My Grade: A