The Infernal Affairs Trilogy
Infernal Affairs III
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Synopsis
The Hong Kong crime drama was jolted to new life with the release of the Infernal Affairs trilogy, a bracing, explosively stylish critical and commercial triumph that introduced a dazzling level of narrative and thematic complexity to the genre with its gripping saga of two rival moles—played by superstars Tony Leung Chiu-wai and Andy Lau Tak-wah—who navigate slippery moral choices as they move between the intersecting territories of Hong Kong’s police force and its criminal underworld. Set during the uncertainty of the city-state’s handover from Britain to China and steeped in Buddhist philosophy, these ingeniously crafted tales of self-deception and betrayal mirror Hong Kong’s own fractured identity and the psychic schisms of life in a postcolonial purgatory.
Picture 8/10
Andrew Lau Wai-keung’s and Alan Mak’s Infernal Affairs III appears on the third dual-layer disc of Criterion’s latest box set The Infernal Affairs Trilogy. As with the other films in the set the film is presented in the aspect ratio of about 2.39:1 with a 1080p/24hz high-definition encode. The master is sourced from a new 4K restoration performed by Media Asia and scanned from the 35mm original camera negative by L’Immagine Ritrovata.
Similar to the previous two films in the set it’s clear that noise-reduction and filtering has been applied to the image, yet for whatever reason it appears to have been scaled back for this title. There are a handful of scenes that can look a little waxier when compared to others but on the whole the image ends up looking far sharper with more fine-object detail present, at least when things are in focus (a lot of shots featuring close-ups of Kelly Chen look to be employing a soft focus). Grain is more prominent and ends up looking a bit more natural throughout the entirety of the film compared to the other two films, though is still nowhere near perfect.
Banding still pops up on occasion but despite that slight artifact shadows are rendered well for the most part, the light bledning cleanly into them. Edge-enhancement also isn’t much of a problem this time around. The film’s color scheme still leans that silver, bleach-bypass look most of its running time (in the commentary for the second film director Lau mentions this was accomplished digitally) but range in the colors does appear to be a little wider, leading to a bit more detail and texture.
The restoration clean-up is again solid, and I don’t recall a single blemish ever popping up. In all it ends up being a decent, though still imperfect presentation. If the other films in the set could have at least looked more like this one the set as a whole would have been significantly less frustrating.
The Infernal Affairs Trilogy - Screen Captures
Audio 8/10
Like the other films in the set the third film features a lossless DTS-HD MA 5.1 surround soundtrack. Bass comes off a bit heavier and more active in this one (usually around music, club scenes and such) but I can’t say the mix differed all that much when compared to the other films. The film’s orchestral score, ambient noise, and some action is directed towards the surrounds but it rarely stands out. Most of the heavy lifting is done by the fronts with dialogue sounding sharp and clean. Nothing special but, yet again, it's effective.
Extras 3/10
Whatever one’s opinions on the film it's hard to deny it goes an interesting route and I think some more features around its story and how it closes off the trilogy would have been interesting. Alas, there isn’t much here. The film doesn’t even receive a commentary, Criterion instead editing together interview footage filmed in 2004 by Frédéric Ambroisine and featuring directors Lau and Mak, screenwriter Felix Chong, and actors Kelly Chen, Anthony Wong and Chapman To. The clips focus specifically on the third film, the directors and screenwriter kind of explaining the direction they were going with their characters. Chen and To’s contributions end up being rather interesting as To explains here how he had the choice between two characters in the first film (lucking out on appearing in the other two films I guess) while Chen explains how her role in the first film was essentially a cameo, so it’s interesting how her character becomes central to the storyline in the third film. At 16-minutes it doesn’t cover a lot of ground, but it offers an okay overview if nothing else.
A 12-minute promotional making-of featuring interviews with the filmmakers and members of the cast doesn’t add much other than the idea the film is trying to provide the “happy” side to being an undercover cop. And then finally there’s the 3-minute trailer, almost a third of which consists of production logos.
Some academic feature closing off the set would have been entirely appropriate here. Sadly, that isn’t the case and the set closes with a whimper.
Closing
The features for the third and final film in the trilogy end up being the weakest, consisting entirely of archival material, while the presentation for the film ends up being the strongest. A mixed way to close off the set.
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