The pinnacle of Hong Kong police and gangster films is undoubtedly "Infernal Affairs" with a score of 9.2.
The thrilling dealings between the police and the undercover, the dislocation of each other's true identities; the fist-fighting scenes, the fierce confrontation between justice and evil.
Iconic criminal elements such as gangsters, moles, and gun battles attract attention. The sincere friendship and the deep yearning for good in each character sublimate the theme. At this point, "Infernal Affairs" has become an unsurpassed classic.
However, recently there was a 4.3-point terrible movie called "The Infernal Affairs: Life and Death". The story is "plagiarized" from "Infernal Affairs", and the title of the film is similar to two classic Hong Kong dramas, " Apostle Walker " and " Stealth Sniper ". I thought it would arouse the audience's interest, but I didn't know that it directly caused people to have a rebellious psychology: How can the content of a work with copied and pasted film titles be any better?
Sure enough -
More than 80% of the viewers in the Douban short comment area collapsed after watching the movie. With two-star negative reviews all over the screen, it was shortlisted as one of the top ten bad movies of 2020 due to its strength.
Disadvantage 1: The story is confusing and lacks focus
"The Departed" begins with a chase scene. , one of the gang's police undercover agents, is exposed. In order to prove that he is not an accomplice, the other undercover agent is also the male protagonist Flying nail beat him brutally.
Then the police Duan Yifan appeared. The camera was particularly magical when he appeared, with a direct pause and a close-up shot, for fear that the audience would not know that Duan Yifan was an undercover agent planted by the gang in the police. The editing level was worrying, and he could only give it 3 out of 10 points.
takes the main line of the story to uncover other police undercover in the gang, and the story unfolds. During the process, Feiding's identity was accidentally discovered and he fell into crisis; on the other hand, Duan Yifan wanted to become a real policeman, so he was warned by the gangster, which directly led to the loss of his fiancée's life.
The story is obvious and is a complete "plagiarism" of "Infernal Affairs". From the characters to the story conflicts, 80% of the plots are exactly the same.
Helplessly, the story rhythm of "The Departed" is really too confusing -
Duan Yifan's fiancée died suddenly before the reason why Fei Nai was framed was explained clearly. One of them is a gangster undercover and the other is a police undercover. Logically speaking, the relationship between the two should be hostile to each other, but the ending inexplicably turns into Duan Yifan helping Feiding to clear the suspicion, which makes people confused.
The gunfight scene in the first 10 minutes can barely score a 6, but the story becomes more and more sloppy as it goes on.
Xi Siu-hung plays the gangster Brother Xi who has done countless evil things. In the film, the ultimate goal of the police is to wipe out the gang that Brother Xi belongs to. This should be the most important part of the film.
But no one expected that all the scenes are only 3 minutes at the end of the film... There is no cause and effect, only a brief PPT-style explanation.
The whole story seems very confusing, and I can’t get what the director wants to say at all.
Disadvantage 2: The acting skills are too poor and there is no sense of substitution.
The role of Flying Spike in the film is played by Xie Tianhua. He once starred in the classic Hong Kong drama "Stealth Sniper" and received a lot of praise at the time.
I don’t know whether it’s because he has become numb after filming too many scenes of this type or for other reasons. In this film, Xie Tianhua has the same expression from beginning to end, which is a facial paralysis performance, which cannot give the audience any sense of empathy.
Occasionally, Xie Tianhua also uses micro-expressions, but every time it is counterproductive...
For example, in the plot of attending a gang meeting with other bosses, he stared at the other bosses with an scrutinizing expression throughout the whole process, for fear that others would not know that he was an undercover agent. . Can he become a leading actor with this acting skills? It's unbelievable.
The performance of Zhou Pakho , played by Duan Yifan, was also very fascinating...
It should have been a very sad performance when the fiancée died tragically, but there was only a howl without tears in the picture, which looked very embarrassing.
did not control the feeling of collapse when he learned that he was just a pawn in the hands of the gangster. The anger was only superficial, and the sense of sacrifice when he went alone to seek revenge was not expressed. Coupled with Pakho Chau's glaringly bad acting, the gangster film instantly turned into a prize for confusing middle-aged men's behavior...
The acting skills of the two actors did not add to the story, but rather hindered it a lot.
Trouble 3: The confusing editing is suffocating
There is a very classic scene in "Infernal Affairs". The approximate content is Chen Yongren and Liu Jianming each recall their past, thinking about why they have reached the point they have reached and what they should do next.
"The Departed" copied this shot, and then successfully brought the audience . Question marks were flying over my head after watching the clip: Even if the camera is shaking, why should the picture be turned into gray and inexplicable words added? light and shadow. Could this be the legendary video from the underworld?
Not to mention the way the memory shots feature close-ups of the melancholy expressions of the two protagonists, making you feel like you are reading some kind of pain literature.
In addition, there are many bugs in the video related to the way the undercover delivers information.
When there are people in the room, it is impossible for Flying Spike to find an opportunity to use lipstick to leave a code on the wall; in the subsequent episode , the police did not destroy Flying Spike and leave a code on the wall. is also unreasonable. Such negligence is equivalent to Killing the undercover is also insulting the audience's intelligence.
The reason why "Infernal Affairs" is a classic lies in the meticulous rhythm of the story, the tension and excitement of the possible exposure of undercover agents, and the complex and noble human nature. A work has as many as three extreme highlights at the same time, and it is expected that it will become a masterpiece.
But in this "plagiarized" version of "The Departed", apart from the main story line and character settings, I learned nothing.
Rather than wasting time watching such a terrible movie, it is better to watch the masterpiece "Infernal Affairs" again~
