User reviews

What a tangled web a studio can weave when they realize they desperately need to make some money off of a sequel to a film that didn't need one. That's not to say that this is bad, but it would strike me as an ordinary film even if I hadn't seen the extraordinary film that came before. This "sequel," despite the number, is actually a prequel, but it doesn't so much fill in the blanks as muddy up the waters; it's often confusing, it's not always clear if some of the new backstory really squares with the depictions we saw in the first one, and some of the more glaring questions are left unanswered (possibly for film number three). The young replacements the mole characters, previously played by Tony Leung and Andy Lau, are certainly not up to the task. Thankfully, the movie works because Anthony Wong and Eric Tsang reprise their roles as the respective cop and mob boss, and it is quite interesting to learn about a relationship between them that, from what I recall, was far from obvious before. I certainly wouldn't recommend watching this before the first one, despite the chronology, but I imagine it is worth satisfying the likely thirst for more that you will most likely have after watching the previous film.

After phenomenal success of "Wu Jian Dao (2002)" (or IA for short), a lot of hypes generated around when next two movies in the series are announced. I tend to ignore them and do not expect anything about IA2. Before I got into the cinema, "how would the screenwriters present this time,and how would they connect the characters between them?". After the movie, I would say I am not disappointed.

Like IA, this is also a drama about clashes of characters, not in the form of breath-taking kung fu / wire-work actions we find in traditional Hong Kong cop movie, but starting from their own desire, intentions, hate and positions. If you are looking for a non-stop action flick, I am afraid IA2 would not fulfill you.

But unlike last year's blockbuster, the main theme of IA2 is about the rise and fall of a great gangster family Ngai, other than about the police. The difficult part in making a prequel lies in the fact that as audiences all know too well the new appearences would drop-out one way or the other and the characters from IA must be okay. So the story does not waste efforts in describing most of the adventures, rather, concentrate on how these events shapes things to come. It is sure to the scriptwrites' credits and this alone casts a strong contrast to prequel movies like "Star Wars: Attack of the Clones" (2002).

Moreover, it is not surprising for many audiences relating this with similar movies like "The Godfather". I am not comparing them here, but rather I would point out that the actor Francis Ng, who plays the new gangster head of Nagi family, runs the show. He plays a young, well-educated, cool,calculating, witted, cruel, cunning -- and unpredictable leader. As some critics say, a CEO-style triad boss. On the other hand, he successfully shows Ngai is actually a passionate man whose family comes first. On the other hand, late gang leader is screened for one shot only (pun intended), his character is only reflected, not by flashbacks, but by short monologues recited by Ng. It is a quite demanding job and I would say Ng has done a really good job here.

Speaking of characters, another drift from IA, and many other traditional movies in the genre, female character actually plays "real" effects. Mary, played by Claudia Lau, is the closest girlfriend of Sam Hung. She is not just a powerless, declorative character. Like many female in the course of human history, she is the ignition point of the whole storm.

If the audiences has not forgotten IA actually hints that Inspector Wong (played by award-winning Anthony Wong) and Sam Hung (played by also award-winning Eric Tsang) have known each other for a long time. IA2 unveils their long-time mutual respects, and how all these change as the story flows along. Anthony Wong still delivers a high standard of acting just like in IA and how he plays the 3 ups-and-downs of Inspector Wong is simply terrific. On the contary, gangster Hung, Wong's arch-enemy in IA, is much lighter and more human. As with Wong, this character experiences changes which shapes of what to be seen in IA. However, I find the last party scene is unnecessary and does not seem to connect with the firece and uncanny Hung we used to know.

Relatively, the other major characters seems week. Mainland actor Jun Wu, plays another inspector who is a close partner with Wong. I could see the actor tries. Unfortunately, Wu's character is just too flat. His friendship and his clashes with Wong could not mark strong impressions among the audiences. I have a (probably false) feeling that this character is created to be destroyed and it is a waste of Wu's talents.

The actors portriating the young Wing-yan Chan (by Shawn Yu) and Kin-ming Lau (by Edison Chan) would be the weakest link in IA2. Except for a few scene, Edison puts up a regular expression of somewhat between arragonce and anger. For example, towards the end of airport scene, Lau would have a mixed feeling of guilt, anger, loss and vengence. This is an important scene for Lau's self-centered character, however, the actor simply fails to convince me.

The same goes to Shawn. He fails to play as someone who is torn between his role as a "policeman" and a triad member, his loyalty and duty. Most of the time, he just plays plain and "flat faced". To be fair, he gets a tad better towards the end of the movie as his character begins to merge with the character in IA.

Nonetheless, young actors weight must less as the others.

Speaking about continuity, IA2 does not fail in providing bits and pieces about the backstory of IA. And it is not hard for anyone to catch the images of other minor characters from IA. However, I have a few issues.

First, in IA, we see Hung was an ambitious and man of vision, that is why he implants many moles in the police department in the first place. However, the initial character of Hung seems too soft and passive. Why does he stand by Ngai in the time of crisis? We could not see his importance rises afterwards. Why didn't he use the chance and take out his opponents or expand his influence in the triad, then? Was he just covering himself for his long-term plan?

Also, why Wing-yan Chan remains in the end, even in light of his well-known ties with the Ngai family? How come does he becomes a subordinate of Keung? In IA, the position of Keung and Yan seems to have switched.

Apart from some goofs (accuracy of shooting from a paper bag, ignorance of emptied handgun and way of corspes could be burnt to ashes), the run of the movie stops rather abruptedly twice as timeline transits from year 1991 to 1995 and from 1995 to 1997. The effects on and changes of characters are not appearent so it leaves the audiences with a lot of imaginations and mental exercises. (Not that I hate mental exercises, it is rare for Hong Kong movies to make me enjoy doing so) I think the director could handle the storytelling a bit better smoother and tighter.

Despite of cliches, IA2 delivers a more powerful drama than the original. The acting, directing and many other technical aspects are top notch. The scriptwriters are very clever in telling from the other side of the theme and breaks away the shadow casted by the successful predecessor.

Looking forward to see the real "final" this December.

8/10

A loose prequel to 2002's hit Infernal Affairs, this goes back to the 1980s and '90s when the Hong Kong police force and the city's ruling triad sent undercover agents into each other's organisations.

Tony Leung and Andy Lau are missed as the supermoles (played here by young look-alikes) but directors Andrew Lau and Alan Mak have something smart up their sleeves, shifting the emphasis of the story onto the able shoulders of the pair's world-weary veteran superiors. Anthony Wong and Eric Tsang are excellent as the morally compromised cop and likable but capable capo, ageing friends who understand they stand just over the line from each other.

A knowledge of the first film helps navigate the labyrinthine plots of the dizzying opening act but once it finds its pace, it's a slick, slow-burning thriller all the way – marred only by the directors' occasional lapse into Godfather pretensions – while the backdrop of 1997's hand-over of Hong Kong is effective shorthand for the huge changes taking place within the forces of both law and disorder.

This film is a good example for the fact that good and fertile story is the key of film making. "Infernal Affair II" shows how to inherit an original story and expend its scope in a reasonable, even creative way. It is a very good experience watching this film, the actors are good, the directing is skilled and the sequences are intensive, and the climax is stunning, but meanwhile, it always makes you have some ideas connecting to the Godfather series. No matter its epic scale and clues of scenes, you can feel their respect to(or, borrowing from?) the Coppola's legendary film(maybe only the first two...) that's a good try, but not an original one.

a very important work of Hong Kong Cinema in the 90s

Worth watching, especially with the original "Infernal Affairs" 7/10

Thought the first one was one of the finest Cop thrillers in recent years and the follow up is equally brilliant - for obvious reasons its a prequel set in 3 time periods leading up to the events in the first movie. This time round Ming(Edison Chen - Andy Lau last time) and Yan(Shawne Yau - Tony Leung last time) are more peripheral characters - the main action concentrates on Inspector Wong(Anthony Wong) and his struggles against the Triads. The leader of the major gang has been murdered and his son Hau(Francis Ng) has taken over - he is a more ruthless boss and intends to take over all the territory that other leaders currently control. These include Sam(Eric Tsang) and its interesting how close Wong and Sam are before the events that end so tragically later - Wong would rather have Sam running things and it appears that Wong has conspired with Sam's woman Mary(Carina Lau) to have Hau's Father killed - only to see the son become worse than the Father. To complicate matters Yan is Hau's half brother who as a cop is willing to infiltrate Hau's gang but whose loyalty is put under pressure when he realises that Wong(who he is working for) had a hand in his Fathers murder.Meanwhile Sam is grooming Ming to become his mole in the HK Police(although Ming's attraction for Mary does complicate things).

How this all pans out and leads to the events in the first film I shall leave but its an excellent film - a little complicated at times as you have to work out all the dynamics buts worth the effort - as mentioned the most poignant part is the relationship between Wong and Sam - they may be on opposite sides but have a closeness that will prove to be the central point of the story later.

There is a fantastic scene where Hau contrives to have himself held in Police custody whilst the other gang bosses are murdered and the way the film cuts between his interview(where he reveals how he knows who killed his Father) and the other bosses being wiped out is worthy of comparison with Coppola's Godfather - the series has that whole epic feel and the way it culminates with the handover of power to the Chinese in 1997 with new bosses on both sides of the conflict coming to power is very well done.

For once a sequel that lives up to the original........I shall be interested to see if Scorcese's remake can come close.

INFERNAL AFFAIRS II is a prequel to the smash-hit movie about undercover operatives and their parallel lives in the Hong Kong police and Triads. This one explores the early lives of the characters played by Tony Leung and Andy Lau in the original, the actors replaced by newcomers Shawn Yue and Edison Chen respectively (Yue and Chen had bit parts in INFERNAL AFFAIRS).

The problem with this prequel is that it feels hurried and unnecessary, lacking almost all the qualities that made the first film so good. Leung and Lau were engaging actors who brought subtle nuances to their roles, but Chen and Yue feel bland and too fresh-faced in comparison. Realising this, the film-makers spend a lot of screen time with rivals Anthony Wong and Eric Tsang instead, but you can't help feel but the plotting in this one is redundant in contrast to the life-or-death stakes of the gripping original.

There's a distinct lack of emotional involvement in the film as the story develops, and although the technical qualities are strong, the twisty-turny plotting isn't. There are the requisite betrayals, executions and bombings, but they have a slightly tired quality to them. This isn't a bad film by any means, but it's one that's easily lost and indistinguishable during a decade in which Johnnie To made seemingly endless variants on similar themes.

Sequels are often a bad idea. If a second story is integral to our understanding of the first, it would have been included within it. Often, sequels seem like a cheap way to extract more life out of popular characters, by forcing the through fresh adventures which they either do not fit without contrivance, or which merely copy their previous escapades. 'Internal Affairs 2', however, is an exception. The first movie in this series was a complex thriller that was presented as the end game in a long battle between the Hong Kong police and criminal gangs; but the back story was only hinted at. This movie, actually a prequel, tells tells that story in such a way that it stands completely alone, and remains interesting although the audience already knows the ultimate ending; indeed, is arguably even more interesting because we know where the tale must end. One reason it works is because the film has different ambitions to its predecessor: that was a straightforward thriller of the highest order, whereas this film (no less good) is more character driven, and takes a wider perspective on Hong Kong society in general. Although the first movie was compared by some to Michael Mann's 'Heat', in fact it is this film that better bears the comparison as a tale of adversaries on opposite sides of the law, and it stands up to that comparison well: the subtle behaviours of the heroes and villains alike more interesting than the macho posturings of the gangsters and cops depicted in American movies. The only disappointment is the absence of Tony Leung from the original cast; but it's rare that two movies in a series are as complementary, and as good, as these two.

Now, IA 1 achieved what other normal cat-and-mouse cop flick couldn't: being inventive and intelligent. And it made a lot of money, so the directors decide to make 2 more films. Instead of cashing in through bad sequel and then worse prequel (Think Ringu, Ring 2/Rasen and the really bad Ring O), it breaks the cliched road by doing the prequel first and then the sequel, except that the prequel isn't bad or worse. Which BTW will become the subject of this review. IA 2 is one of the best HK film (possibly the best) in the year of 2003. In fact, it is far more superior than first. Here's why: 1. Instead of the normal gangster film, IA 2 gives us a glimpse of what really happened that changes the two IA 1 character into what they become in the future. Some might argue that this is supposed to be the film of the two main characters in IA 1. However, we must also consider the two supporting characters on why they become enemies and why they are hot on each other's tail. 2. Its story really sums up well. BTW, the reason why the triad boss took the undercover cop under his hands is that he still didn't know about the undercover's background.

In conclusion, IA 2 is far more superior than IA 1. Let's wait for the third installment.

Solid acting and an interesting enough prequel story makes for an above average production that is recommended for fans of the original.

6 out of 10. Not bad

IA2 has lived up to its predecessor's name. Although the supporting actors, Shawn Yue and Edison Chen, paled in comparison to their more experienced and classy leading men, their acting was A.

I just find it disturbing that in most triad and police movies in HK, the female roles are rather limited. This is in particularly true in IA1 ans IA2, where the female roles were either guest roles or supporting roles. Carina Lau's character should have been given a bit more coverage, esp she's such a fine actress and would be able to handle a much bigger role by herself.

Eric Tsang, Francis Ng and Anthony Wong were in fact the ones who brought their movie characters to life. A good effort to Shawn and Edison but kudos to the older actors! Hopefully, IA3 would be as good as IA and IA2.

INFERNAL AFFAIRS 2, the prequel to the popular film from 2002, is a bloated movie trying to make its way into "epic" status. The film runs almost 2 hours long, is at least 30 minutes too long, and too many characters are introduced, leaving the original two leads -- the two people the film is supposed to be "exploring" -- standing in the background with nothing much to do. One of the main character commits a murder in the beginning that sets off a gangland war, but other than that the two main characters could have been excised completely from the film.

In a nutshell, INFERNAL AFFAIRS 2 is THE GODFATHER 2, but with Chinese actors and triads instead of mafiosos. Narratively, the two films are identical, and the writers of IA 2 even re-uses elements and sequences made popular in that other film. It's not very hard to spot, but I guess we can count is as homage rather than theft. Perhaps.

In any rate, IA 2 is a good enough movie, but in truth, it really shouldn't have been called IA 2, or a prequel to the far superior INFERNAL AFFAIRS. As another movie entirely, without relations to INFERNAL AFFAIRS, IA 2 would have been quite a terrific film. But alas, it comes to us with baggage.

7 out of 10

(go to www.nixflix.com for a more detailed review of this film)

Set before events in Wu Jian Dao, the murder of the head of the Ngai family see his son, Hau, stepping up – immediately upsetting the power balance in the region. Small time boss Sam has a close relationship with officer SP Wong both of whom wish to see the Ngai family removed from the scene. Meanwhile, triad Lau Kin Ming is sent to infiltrate the police force and gradually work his way up with help from Sam while Wong sanctions Chen Wing Yan (the half brother of the Hgai family) to infiltrate the triads and work his way up to Hau.

I approached this film wondering what it would do – how would it manage to be interesting given that we already know (from part 1) how it goes. I also expected it to be roughly the same as the first film in terms of being an enjoyable thriller – however this was not the case and it was hard to get into the film for what it was. The story is not really about Yan and Ming so much as it is about the leading figures behind them – this film belongs to Sam, Wong and Hau and this was a bit of a surprise but one I was able to get over quickly and settle into a pretty interesting story where we see the shift of power in the HK crime families – unsurprisingly framed by the shift of political power from Britain to China. However interesting it is the film lacks in several areas. Firstly the praise for the first film seems to have got to the makers' heads and part 2 is a much more overblown affair that injects every scene with a sense of overblown drama that it tries to create as oppose to earn. This is a little tiring as it seems to be forcing us to accept the film as some sort of epic where it would have been much more effective to underplay the story and let it stand on its own. Making this more annoying is the fact that the script doesn't really help the audience much and only the sharpest viewer will make it through the first 20 minutes without struggling to get hold of the story and work out who everybody is.

In stark contrast to the tight thriller of part 1, this film is a much bigger story and, as such, occasionally struggled to keep me emotionally involved. Sure, the politics of crime were interesting and produced plenty of good stuff but only occasionally did I get behind the characters and struggle to know who to support like I had in part 1 – in fact the film could have easily lost Yan and Ming without losing much story. However it is still worth seeing as it does manage as a bit of a twisty crime story (but not a thriller) but even as this it doesn't really stand out as being that great. The loss of the great performances from Lau and Leung is a massive hole that neither Chen or Yue ever get close to filling – the fact that the material gives them no help either is not their fault. As before, Wong and Tsang are both good and they benefit from being the focus of the prequel. Ng is a good addition as Hau and he is suitably professional, cold and has a powerful presence suiting his character – it also helps that he was very easy on the eye too! As with the prequel, the female parts are pretty thin and the potential to use Lau's Mary better is not taken.

Overall this is not a bad film by any means; in fact it is an OK story of crime between the ruling families (as shown by a few individuals) however the film hurts itself by trying to force itself into the shape of a 'sprawling crime epic' when nothing in the material actually justifies this aim. The poor use of Yan and Ming is a problem that is only slightly helped by the increased focus on Sam and SP Wong. An OK film but not a scratch on the original and not even necessary viewing to enjoy that better film.

The first Infernal Affairs was great - no wonder Martin Scorsese remade it into The Departed. Infernal Affairs 2 is okay but isn't in the same league as Infernal Affairs. Overly complex, and multi-stranded, plot, and thus less engaging.

Direction is solid though, and performances are OK.

It was great to see Francis Ng's tour de force performance in Infernal Affairs II. Really great to see an actor's coming-of-age. The intricacies of his character was handled with great sensitivity.

I thought the casting of Mainland actor, Jun Hu, as Luk as was rather odd at first. While he played his part well alongside Anthony Wong, his lines had to be dubbed into Cantonese. Then when I looked the company credits I realised IA 2 was a co-production between HK and the Mainland. Having Hu (and Dao-Ming Chen in IA 3) in one of the leading roles was perhaps a commercial decision (for the Mainland market) or a requirement of the co-production deal with the Mainland co-producer.

While the younger version of Yan and Lau did not quite live up to the very high standard set by Tong Leung and Andy Lau in IA 1, IA 2 was more than salvaged (or excelled IA 1 some might say) by the best ensemble performance that Hong Kong had to offer by Eric Tsang, Anthony Wong, Francis Ng and Carina Lau.

"Infernal Affairs 2" was a completely unnecessary prequel to the fantastic Hong Kong film "Infernal Affairs". While the story is quite good, it suffers in many ways. First, the two leads from the original film are not in this film (though many of the other actors are). Second, because you've already seen "Infernal Affairs" there is no sense of suspense and you KNOW how the big battle between the mob bosses must end. And, third, it does nothing to further the story from the first film---just fill in some missing pieces that were just as well left missing.

This story picks up as the two leads from the first film, Inspector Lau Kin Ming and Chen Yan, enter the academy. However, Inspector Lau Kin Ming is NOT a major player in the film at all...he's there in a few scenes but not much more. Instead, it follows the path of Chen through the mob and shows the big shakeup that leaves Hon Sam in charge (as he was in the first film). The only really interesting element is how Superintendent Wong Chi Shing mistakenly thought he could work with Hon Sam....something he'd regret by the end of the film.

So, you have an interesting story that is completely unnecessary if you've seen the previous film (which almost all viewers probably have). It's well written and an interesting gangster saga....but I can't see how it was necessary for anything other than to suck more money out of the public who loved the first film. Perhaps I'll think more of the third film, as it picks up just after the first--a much more logical place to begin.

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.

this prequel to the first movie is mixed bag,in my opinion.at times,i found it even more muddled and hard to follow than the first film.however the action sequences are very good here.and there are some really gripping edge of your seat moments.once i could figure out what was going on and who was who,i actually found myself getting really involved in the story and the action.overall,i did think it was more exciting than the first film and i cared more about the characters,which makes sense since the movie does delve into the past of the main characters.even though the movie felt muddled at times,the excitement and the gripping moments made up for it.for me,Mou gaan dou II is a 7/10

This is the second installment of Infernal Affairs trilogy, and a prequel to part 1. In this movie the reason for Lau's association with Sam, and Sam's relation with Anthony Wong's character is fleshed out, and how Sam became the triad boss is also told. Edison Chen plays the role of young Lau in the police academy. Two new players Carina Lau, and Kelly Chan plays the role of Sam's wife, and a shrink who would play an important role in part 3.

This is one of the best trilogy to be ever made in cinema history, that rivals and may surpass former greats like the God Father. Interesting that the whole drama sort of gets started with human weakness of Lau to various temptations. Although this is a prequel to the first installment, it stands on its own as a good movie, and even if you saw this first, you'd be impressed by the story.

One part that's not immediately clear is that the character played by Edison Chen is young Lau, and I'm sure that threw many viewers as to what's going on.

The good of this movie was Kelly Chan in her role as the psychologist. She was beautiful, and added key point to the story.

If you've seen the other Infernal Affairs movie you'd definitely need to see this one. In fact, Part 3 doesn't make sense unless you've seen Part 2. Great movie to watch by any standards.

There is an unusual relationship between Infernal Affairs and Infernal Affairs II, which is the first sequel but is also a prequel and may even be better viewed before the first film. One of my Chinese friends, who suggested the trilogy to me, gave me part II first and said I could watch that before the original film, but I waited until I could buy the entire trilogy and watch them all in order. As it turns out, I may as well have listened to her.

The premise is pretty much the same, a police officer working undercover for a mafia godfather, while the godfather has a trusted lieutenant working as a successful police inspector. Like the first film, it is an interesting play in the space between breaking and protecting the law, as each side is simultaneously living life as a criminal and law enforcement agent, which is clearly a difficult task.

There is an interesting backdrop of the film of the return of Hong Kong to China in 1997, the 10 year anniversary of which I experienced here in central China last June. And let me tell you, these people are really happy to have Hong Kong. They don't mess around with fireworks. For the Chinese New Year, for example, fireworks are set off almost nonstop for WEEKS. Trust me. I'm literally hearing the last of it outside my window at this very moment. None of this 30 minutes just after midnight nonsense!

It's true that the sequel is slightly lesser than the brilliant first film, but it is an engaging crime drama, especially impressive because of the performances of Police Inspector Wong (Anthony Wong) and the gangster Sam (Eric Tsang), who were in charge of placing the moles on the opposing team, you might say. They are good friends and seem to have an easy relationship, except that each pretty much knows what the other is doing, they just don't know everything. And like in the original, this is a recipe for a pretty absorbing crime film.

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

While the 2003 Hong Kong crime thriller "Mou Gaan Dou II" (aka "Infernal Affairs II") certainly was a good movie, it just wasn't up to par with the 2002 predecessor movie. In fact, the movie was somewhat far from the first movie.

But I am getting ahead of myself here. The storyline in directors Andrew Lau and Alan Mak 2003 prequel movie to the 2002 "Mou Gaan Dou" was good, but it just lacked the intensity and the punch that the first movie had to it. Don't get me wrong here, because I am not saying that "Mou Gaan Dou II" is not a good movie, because it certainly is; it just had some shortcomings. I felt that the storyline here in "Mou Gaan Dou II" was a bit rushed and not properly fleshed out in as much detail as the movie should have had.

And there is no doubt about the fact that the movie suffered from not having Andy Lau on the cast list. But it was still good to see other cast members from the first movie return to reprise their roles in "Mou Gaan Dou II". The cast in "Mou Gaan Dou II" included the likes of Anthony Chau-Sang Wong, Shawn Yue, Chapman To, Eric Tsang and Edison Chen from the first movie, but it also added the likes of Francis Ng and Carina Lau to the cast list, two very skilled performers.

While the storyline was lacking something all-round to bring it up to par with its predecessor, I will say that there is a good amount of action and suspense here, just as in the first movie. And it definitely was interesting enough to see the characters from the first movie in what they were doing in the time leading up to the 2002 movie.

My rating of "Mou Gaan Dou II" lands on a six out of ten stars.

I was and still am huge fan of the first film AI, sadly after much anticipation and hype about AI2, all i can say is sigh... I have to say, it would have been pretty hard to expand the first film's story, especially with 3 of the 4 main characters biting the dust, so kudos for the writers for coming up with this prequel's story line. As is usually the case, whenever the prequel is released, the story becomes incoherent, the prequel expects the viewer to understand the sequel, at the same time, discover the various motivations behind the original film. The movie itself had a lot more characters than the first, which in my opinion, was a classic mistake of Singaporean film-makers, making the movie lose its essence of having a few main characters and really developing their characters to the extent that viewers want to watch the prequel and follow their story. The beginning was a complete mess, strange new faces appearing all over, each seemingly important but felt like a total stranger. Whats more, the story seems to centralize on the two supporting cast in the first film, but towards the end, I'm still puzzled over the relationship between the superintendent and Sam, to me, this prequel fails to account fully for the bad blood between the two. To add to my disappointment, the 2 main cast from the 1st film failed to make an appearance, all in all, sigh...