A Girl & A Gun

Mou gaan dou III: Jung gik mou gaan (aka Infernal Affairs III) (2003), Wai-keung Lau & Siu Fai Mak

The final installment (to date) of the Infernal Affairs trilogy eschews operatic shootouts in favor of following the undercover inferno to it's inevitable identity meltdown. The final film is so full of moles on either side it's hard to tell at times if the majority of gangsters in Hong Kong aren't additionally claiming a modest law enforcement wage, and visa versa. It's also pretty hard to keep track of who's getting paid by both sides and who isn't, and even characters who are getting paid in this one may be donating their wages to orphanages.

The big story here is how Triad police infiltrator Inspector Lau (Andy Lau) can come to terms with his now apparently massive dependency on Chan (Tony Leung), and his desperate attempts at redemption. Lau's identity hemorrhage is mapped across a series of flash backs, as once again the action skips from pre- to post-handover Hong Kong. Dr. Lee Sum Yee (Kelly Chen), the least convincing psychiatrist in the history of cinema, makes an unwelcome comeback from Infernal Affairs I. The plus side of this is that we get to see Chan at his most charming, fooling around, flirting, eating and sleeping through his state required sessions. To be honest, the film was worth making just to expand on Chans role and get a bit more Leung screen time.

It's not the greatest film in the world and doesn't really make much sense unless you've payed attention to I and II. But it does give audiences what they want - more scenarios around the established characters, chucks in a couple of new comers to keep things interesting, and doesn't go (completely) out all guns blazing predictably.
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Mou gaan dou II (aka Infernal Affairs II) (2003), Wai-keung Lau & Siu Fai Mak

Recently found myself on a long train journey which seemed to take in half of England and Wales so finally got round to the Infernal Affairs trilogy. Infernal Affairs was a blistering action movie, starring clean cut Andy Lau as Inspector Lau Kin Ming, a Triad mole working for Hong Kong law enforcement, and the  gorgeous and massively talented Tony Leung as his counterpart/nemesis Chan Wing Yan - an undercover cop working for a Triad boss. The simplicity of the story is genius and the tension rackets up throughout the movie - while their both aware of their counterpart, neither has worked out who he is and the movie rattles along while the audience worries about who will reveal who first. Infernal Affairs is a serious contender within the crime thriller genre - it's far better than Heat, and although it lacks the sweep of The Godfather it manages the tricky task of keeping pace while delivering an intelligent, genuinely engaging story (unlike the entire Mission Impossible franchise). It did great at the box office, won countless awards, generated Infernal Affairs II & III, and has the dubious honor of being remade by Martin Scorsese (as The Departed).

Infernal Affairs II, the prequel, shifts the focus of attention from Lau and Chan and focuses on muddying the moral waters they both have to navigate even further. Since Andy Lau and Tony Leung are both absent, replaced by the younger (and far less hot)  Edison Chen and  Shawn Yue respectively, I can live with that.  In fact, it's a smart move - instead the action focuses on the morally ambiguous Inspector Wong (Anthony Wong) and the Triad he helps into power (and spends the other two movies trying to oust), Sam (Eric Tsang). Both of the actors are underused in the original film so it's great to see them in their stride here, scheming and trying to stay alive.

Carina Lau gets the only worthwhile female role in the whole trilogy here, as Mary, Sam's wife, unrequited love of Lau's life and a boss in her own right. Francis Ng puts in a great performance as the ruthless Hau, consolidating power after his fathers assassination.