Welcome back to another edition of Adam's Reviews!! **queue in intro music**
Today's movie review is the Hong Kong crime thriller sequel Infernal Affairs III (2003), the final entry to this series where it serves as a sequel and a prequel to the original. If you can get past with the constant flashbacks and keep up with the times then you will not mind this film, if not then you will definitely be hating on this flick. This flick picks up straight afterwards of the first while also going back over the original film and filling in more detail between Yan and Ming's overarching story arcs. This time around, the third film focuses on characters rather than the tension and thrill we saw in the first. The story is heavily focused on the fate of Ming being the modern thread that holds the film together. Here we get to see the deep psychological drawback from the first flick, whilst fearing that he will be exposed as the Triads mole in the police department. Plus, on top of that his wife has left him along with his newborn child. Lau who portrays Ming does a great job of a man who wants to leave behind his past and just be a good cop and a good man. His ongoing lines around "did I scare you, I am sorry" did get overblown. However, his depression, paranoia, fear, the lengths of covering his tracks while trying to be more like Yang is performed absolutely great. If you are into the characters and the parallels with the original film then it is worth seeing because it does do it pretty well. The only drawback of this flick is that you must pay attention to every detail. There are again great throwbacks to the other two flicks including eating the famous sharkfin soup. I did enjoy this film and liked the new characters who influence story lines attached to Yang and ultimately the ending of Ming however overall, the relevance of the characters who have died doesn't give you the emotional buy in as you may have during the first original film. A great way to tie up loose ends of the series, while portraying more of an emotional impact rather than a thriller - 6.2/10.
Today's movie review is the Hong Kong crime thriller sequel Infernal Affairs III (2003), the final entry to this series where it serves as a sequel and a prequel to the original. If you can get past with the constant flashbacks and keep up with the times then you will not mind this film, if not then you will definitely be hating on this flick. This flick picks up straight afterwards of the first while also going back over the original film and filling in more detail between Yan and Ming's overarching story arcs. This time around, the third film focuses on characters rather than the tension and thrill we saw in the first. The story is heavily focused on the fate of Ming being the modern thread that holds the film together. Here we get to see the deep psychological drawback from the first flick, whilst fearing that he will be exposed as the Triads mole in the police department. Plus, on top of that his wife has left him along with his newborn child. Lau who portrays Ming does a great job of a man who wants to leave behind his past and just be a good cop and a good man. His ongoing lines around "did I scare you, I am sorry" did get overblown. However, his depression, paranoia, fear, the lengths of covering his tracks while trying to be more like Yang is performed absolutely great. If you are into the characters and the parallels with the original film then it is worth seeing because it does do it pretty well. The only drawback of this flick is that you must pay attention to every detail. There are again great throwbacks to the other two flicks including eating the famous sharkfin soup. I did enjoy this film and liked the new characters who influence story lines attached to Yang and ultimately the ending of Ming however overall, the relevance of the characters who have died doesn't give you the emotional buy in as you may have during the first original film. A great way to tie up loose ends of the series, while portraying more of an emotional impact rather than a thriller - 6.2/10.