Infernal Affairs (2002): C+

Infernal Affairs’ cinematic family tree isn’t hard to trace – start with American crime movies from the ‘40s to the ‘70s, then look to John Woo and the Hong Kong cop-yakuza flicks of the late ‘80s and early ‘90s, and finally to Quentin Tarantino, Michael Mann, and the crime epics of the past decade – but it is difficult to find anything new or inspired in Wai Keung Lau and Siu Fai Mak’s flashy 2002 hit about dueling undercover agents in Hong Kong. Lau (Andy Lau) is a drug dealer’s underling who’s infiltrated the city's law enforcement ranks, Yan (Tony Leung) is a cop working as a mole in Lau’s nefarious boss’ narcotics operation, and both have the same assignment: to discover and expose the other’s identity. As is always the case in such films, the two men are so deep in disguise that they’re beginning to forget which side of the law they’re on, but Infernal Affairs’ primary schizophrenia is caused by its chaotic homages to every crime film since Pulp Fiction. Familiarity breeds boredom in Lau and Mak’s derivative directorial hands, with the filmmakers attempting to obscure their story’s predictability and frequent hokeyness – especially during introspective scenes set to Japanese pop ballads and a painful subplot involving Lau’s girlfriend, who’s writing a book about ambiguous identity – with Lai Yiu-Fai’s and Lau Wai Keung’s sleekly superficial cinematography and Danny Pang’s anxious editing. It’s not infernally bad, but this stab at duplicating Heat’s examination of the distinctions between cops and crooks is ultimately quiet tepid.