Infernal Affairs

Miramax Films | Release Date: September 24, 2004

6.8	USER SCORE Generally favorable reviews based on 117 Ratings

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CalibMcBoltsMay 30, 2016

I've been looking around Rotten Tomatoes to find some negative reviews of 2002's ''Infernal Affairs'' by either critics or the audience, but i cant seem to find any *really* negative reviews (except the 3 rotten scores by critics) so i guess,I've been looking around Rotten Tomatoes to find some negative reviews of 2002's ''Infernal Affairs'' by either critics or the audience, but i cant seem to find any *really* negative reviews (except the 3 rotten scores by critics) so i guess, i'm yet again, back in a dark corner with my opinion on this one.

Me, like many of this films' viewers, watched this film after having seen the wildly succesfull (critically acclaimed, and loved by audiences) Martin Scorsese picture: ''The Departed'' which is the remake/retelling of this story, staring a massive A-list cast, slick style, superb screenwriting, confident directing and an additional 40 minutes to sink your teeth into. It's basically an upgrade in every filmmaking aspect, as you would hope with every remake, which is unfortunately not always the case..

As you can tell, i did not like Infernal Affairs at all, maybe a scene here and there, but as a whole, i was vastly disappointed. If i hadnt have seen The Departed before viewing Infernal Affairs i would have had no clue what this film is about, the only reason i understood what it was about after 40 minutes is because i watched The Departed before seeing this, which resulted in me having some sort of a clue what it was all about, but it really is not clear at all. Which is a perfect segway for my first complaint: The script is not confident of itself and has no clue what it wants to be, it goes all over the place and it feels so disconnected with the audience. Like i said, i got a fair idea what the movie was doing and what it wants to be after a whopping 40 minutes of struggling to know what the hell it was about, and to remind you, i allready saw The Departed, and i still had no clue what it wants to be. When watching the first 40 minutes i thought: ''Well, Scorsese and the screenwriters sure changed a whole lot, it seems a completely different film.''

There are always those people that always claim that the original is better than the remake, even though the remake is an incredible masterpiece. But i really cant take people like that siriously, use your brain, and anyone who has one will clearly see that Scorsese's The Departed is a much superior film than Infernal Affairs, even though you might've liked the original, i think then everyone would agree too that The Departed is the superior film. It has one of the best casts of all time and they all deliver incredible A+ performances, but in the original except maybe the 2 leads, every other character and performance is not memorable. Scorsese has crafted memorable characters out of every character that has a slight role in the film, even the smaller ones, which is an incredible feit. The original does no attempt at trying this, except with the 2 leads, which is poor. The Departed is 40 minutes longer, which is additional runtime it clearly needed because The Departed is a well fleshed-out, coherent, and streamlined script which is engaging, entertaining and thrilling from minute one. Infernal Affairs however, is disjoint, unclear of itself, confusing, badly paced, and incoherent at many points in the film, neither is it thrilling nor that entertaining, which is a shame.

The only thing i can praise wholeheartedly is that the ending/climax of Infernal Affairs is handled much better than in The Departed. The ending of The Departed is almost cartoonish and tonely-off. In Internal Affairs the ending is handled which much more precision and matureness. However, the ending to The Departed comes as more of a surprise and is more shocking, despite being a bit cartoonish.

That's all i have to say, watching Infernal Affairs was a chore, i did not have a fun time watching it, it was a difficult watch, and i have no intention in ever watching it again.… Expand

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