Although the overall quality of "Infernal Affairs 2" is inferior to that of the first episode, it is still a wonderful product with great intentions. In particular, the handling of certain partial plots is surprising, which is really rare. It should be noted that as a prequel, due to the storyline and character of the first episode, it is often reduced to a mediocre work with no suspense, no play, and no characteristics. "Infernal Affairs 2" of course also tells the prequel stories of the four protagonists Han Chen, Huang Zhicheng, Liu Jianming, and Chen Yongren as expected by the audience. However, before explaining how they prospered, undercover and their personality changes in order to connect with the first episode However, the filled character plot content has a considerable effect. The film kicked off with Han Chen's woman conspiring to kill the gang leader Ni Kun, which immediately caused a good scene of gangsters, police and bandits fighting wits, and has continued to climax ever since.
The film and "Infernal Affairs" mainly focus on the wits of the police and the robbers and the undercover confrontation between the two sides. The ambition of "Infernal Affairs 2" is obviously much greater: although the police are still fighting the wits, the police have almost always been at a disadvantage, on the contrary. It is the fighting within the gang that has been heavily colored, and it is the most interesting. Therefore, "Infernal Affairs 2" is actually more like a gangster movie, not the kind of "Young and Dangerous" type that Andrew Lau used to film. Although "Infernal Affairs 2" is two hours long, it is also arranged with a dense and lively plot. Extraordinarily, Andrew Lau's photography, Pang brothers' editing, and the exciting soundtrack are more conducive to rendering the film's tense rhythm and jumping narrative style. ——It's a pity that these are only superficial skills, and they have not made the audience nervous all the time. Although the plot of "Infernal Affairs 2" is dense, the scenes are evenly distributed due to the large number of characters, which is messy. For example, in the first 20 minutes of the opening, the main characters all appeared on the stage like a revolving lantern, dazzling the audience. Although the rhythm is fast, but it is chaotic, it is difficult to make the audience enter the scene for a while.
The pattern and ambitions that are different from "Infernal Affairs" are obvious. However, the average inking makes "Infernal Affairs 2" unable to be as intense and concentrated as the first episode, and the space for character creation is also extremely limited. Fortunately, the editors and directors Siu Fai Mak and Andrew Lau are still working hard to portray each character quite meaningfully: Ni Yongxiao's appearance is gentle and vicious, but he attaches great importance to family affection; Han Chen was originally loyal, but suffered the death of his wife and the accident of being pursued and killed. Later, he finally became scheming and vicious; Huang Zhicheng knew that Ni Kun was about to be killed, but did not know about it, and the ambiguous relationship with Chen's wife ended, but it was very meaningful; Liu Jianming was obsessed with Chen's wife Mary, and he couldn't get it. After his heart, the cruel whistleblower made Yi die tragically. Although this depiction of the characters seems complicated, but the psychological torment of Liu Jianming as a gang undercover agent is completely ignored, and it cannot be said that it is a failure; as for Chen Yongren, although he is arranged as the son of a gang boss, but The character trajectory of "Want to be a good person" is in the same line as the first episode. In the end, I saw Ni Yongxiao being shot to death. Although it showed human affection, it was still the simplest and clearest one in group portrait shaping.
As for the most eye-catching acting skills of many powerful actors in "Infernal Affairs 2", this time it is indeed wonderful: Anthony Perry and Eric Tsang's character personalities have changed greatly from the previous ones, but the two old actors have the bones. The acting is still handy, making the images of Huang Zhicheng and Han Chen more vivid and three-dimensional; Ni Yongxiao, played by Francis NG, is the biggest highlight of the film, and the signature body expression and eyes are replaced by calm and introverted acting skills, and the actor's skills are more visible; The roles played by Hu Jun and Carina Lau played a key role in the transformation of Huang Zhicheng and Han Chen’s respective personalities. Although there are not many scenes, the superb performance of the two has made the audience unforgettable; when it comes to the two youths of Illkid and Shawn Yue Idol group, the acting skills are immature, but Shawn Yue has studied Liang Touwei (especially for the tomb worship), but Illkid is always Illkid. In terms of supporting roles, the most worth mentioning are Liao Qizhi’s third uncle and Zhang Yaoyang’s police undercover, starting from scratch. At the end, there are only a few lines of dialogue, but the expressions and actions alone have made the audience unable to ignore their presence. Of course, such a scene is powerful. In contrast, Du Wenze's stupidity is quite satisfactory, and his interpretation of this type of role is too familiar to the audience.
In the end, many friends may be disappointed in "Infernal Affairs 2", thinking that it is too far from "Infernal Affairs". However, if you try to look at this "Infernal Affairs 2", which is different from the first episode, as an independent film, think more about the film, which took only a few months from script planning to filming and release. In a hurry, maybe there will be another evaluation of "Infernal Affairs 2".
