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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.

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

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.

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)

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

Like A Better Tomorrow 3 this is actually a prequel to Infernal Affairs 1. This confusing development in film needs to be fine tuned before it gets out of control and logical sequels start going backwards.

I can't wait for Stallone's next film Rambo -1, when he goes forward in time to fight cavemen in a spaceship before he is even born as an old man! Infernal Affairs became better know as "the film they turned into The Departed so white people could like it" a few years back. In my recent review I pointed out that they are so similar that you could watch either and have a good handle on the other without seeing it.

I'd love to see how Hollywood would rip this, as for a period of time it is so confusing and intricately plotted that I couldn't tell who was selling who out and who exactly was being screwed over.

(I am a big advocate of subtitles instead of dubbing, but reading and seeing who is saying the lines can be hard when there are heaps of characters on screen and a lot of dialogue. That was the case here, sometimes I had to rewind the thing a few seconds to see who was saying the line before I could even try to guess why they were saying it. Not the filmmakers fault I don't speak Chinese, just the facts though.) We enter the story in 1991. The bad guy from I.A. 1 (This will be stupid, I can see it already), Sam is at this stage a henchman to the crime boss Ngai, who runs a friendly family crime operation. Sam has a girlfriend Mary, she is ruthless and calculating, (though never when Sam is around), and will do anything to help Sam and further their position, including ordering jobs on the side.

Sam also happens to be good buddies with Inspector Wong, who you will rightfully guess is a police representative. Inspector Wong has a blurred idea of right and wrong at times, he tends to side with who will provide him with the most benefit at the time. This is complicated when his 2IC and another good friend, becomes very close to uncovering his dark secrets through the film. Inspector Wong basically is a good cop as long as he doesn't have to bust anyone that greases his palms along the way.

There is the usual lies, deceit and betrayal (why can't crime lords just get along?), as several of Ngai's "colleagues" express displeasure at how he is running the show and refuse to put in, leading to a clever exchange with Ngai simultaneously working all four of them to get his way, while Same sits at the same table eating noodles.

Now being a pre-sequel to Infernal Affairs there are duplicitous gents with feet in both camps. The new good-rat is Yau, who happens to be Ngai's half-brother (again like A Better Tomorrow), and the naughty-rat is Yan, who is in close with: and lusts after; Mary.

Fast forward to 1995. Ngai tells all around him he wants out. He plans to retire back to mainland China before the handover of Hong Kong in 1997 (do your history kids). He tells Sam first that the future of crime is in drugs, specifically cocaine, and he sends Sam to Thailand for a reconnoiter.

All the while Yau (Ngai's half bro remember? And a cop.) has decided that Ngai's is a pretty good bloke for a vicious crime lord and can't bring himself to bust him.

Much to his surprise (and to anyone who hasn't watched a movie before, I thought it was obvious), Ngai switches up the pace and bumps off all his major threats, including the sub-bosses who all thought they were going to move into the hot seat once he retired. In another twist he also tries to put an end to Sam. Smart move, basically the primary threat to a retired crim are other crims who know his secrets.

____________________________________________________________ As things start to fall apart the cops are forced to take action, and take Ngai into custody, along with almost everyone he knows, including the two rats, both of whom are perilously close to being identified and erased.

As sh*t crumbles around them, Inspector Wong, Yau, Yan, Mary and Sam each must question where their loyalties lie, and Ngai and the police frantically try to work out who is loyal and who is a threat.

Infernal Affairs isn't your standard crime thriller, no-one is all bad or all good. Even Ngai as the kingpin of the whole operation is quite smooth and likable… mostly. Also, as alliegances switch through the film and everyone sells out everyone else it is hard to keep track.

The easiest way I found was to think of who ended up in the first film, that gives you an unfair advantage in guessing who will survive the prequel.

Although confusing, the ending to Infernal Affairs 2 is really well done as everything is almost wrapped up neatly. I found that in the first half the sheer number of characters and convoluted situations became a little too complicated, but the finale made it all worthwhile.

Final Rating – 7.5 / 10. A worthy sequel/prequel to a solid first film. Well worth a look.

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