It’s a cliche at this point but, if you don’t mind indulging me, Infernal Affairs III makes Infernal Affairs II look like Infernal Affairs. Released just a year after the first movie, Infernal Affairs III exists to show fools like me that I had no idea what was *really* going on back when I enjoyed the story that would one day become The Departed. Is dumping this much lore on top of an already dense story a good idea? As a Star Wars fan, I feel confident in saying: eh, sometimes, I guess, but usually no!
While Infernal Affairs II was a comparatively straightforward prequel, Infernal Affairs III is a unique pre-sequel, telling a parallel descent into hell story from the perspectives of Chan Wing-yan (Tony Leung Chiu-wai) sixth month’s before his death and Lau Kin-Ming (Andy Lau Tak-wah) in the months following Chan’s death. And it even includes some remixed scenes from the first movie, altered versions that corroborate Lau’s cover story he invented to excuse his having killed cops. So it’s a prequel and a sequel and occasionally, for a little bit, a remake. Got it? Good.
Chan’s story is about filling it what little gaps there were in Triad Boss Sam’s (Eric Tsang) power struggle between the first two installments. Like the other movies, it shows how Chan continuously, bitterly has to cross lines and put himself in danger to maintain his cover. He just wanted to be a good cop but he’s doomed to suffer. Lau’s story is about how his newfound desire to move on from his life of crime and actually become the good cop he’s been pretending to be is driving him mad. Sam had other moles hidden in the force that are an obvious threat to Lau if discovered, but also the guilt over Chan’s death weighs heavily on his killer. If you’ve been waiting for Lau’s righteous comeuppance since the first movie, this bud’s for you!
I haven’t gone back and reread my other two reviews, so forgive me if I’m repeating myself, but I think it’s worth looking for meaning at these films’ titles. And no, I don’t mean the English title, “Infernal Affairs,” I mean the Chinese title, “無間道.” That translates to “the non-stop way,” a reference to the Buddhist Avīci, the lowest level of hell where there is unceasing torment and from which there is no escape or rebirth. According to Wikipedia, you can actually get out, it just takes 3.4 quintillion years. So in that sense, we got off easy.
Nah but seriously, I had a good time with both sequels but they were both definitely diminishing returns after that white hot original. Infernal Affairs III works so hard at mythologizing the first movie and it’s just so unnecessary. It’s like how Rogue One spent a whole movie answering questions no one was asking and filling in gaps that were so small we never noticed them in like 40 years of loving Star Wars… that’s fine but is that really the best use of all this creative talent? And just like Rogue One, maybe someday they’ll do a kick-ass spin-off Infernal Affairs TV show about Lee going to school to become a therapist or some shit and will blow everything that came before it out of the water. I’d love to see it.