Lau Kin Ming is back at work. He suspects that one of his colleagues is a mole for the triad.
Then it was the end of the fantastic Infernal Affairs series. Infernal Affairs III ends the trilogy in a good and fitting way, even though it’s the weakest movie in the series.
In Infernal Affairs III, all loose threads from the previous two movies are gathered. It focuses on Ming, who believes that one of his colleagues is a new mole for the triad. Ming wants to prove to everyone and himself that he’s a good man. But the past will catch up to him, and he never escapes what he did to Yan. Under Ming’s investigation, the movie switches between present and past, and Tony Leung Chiu Wai is back as Yan.
Infernal Affairs III becomes a mix of the first and second movie. It doesn’t put too much weight on the pace and suspense that we experienced in the first movie. It also skips the great character depth and story from the second movie. So Infernal Affairs III is a lightweight compared to the first two movies in the trilogy.
I’ve seen Infernal Affairs III three times. So when I sat down to watch the Infernal Affairs movies again, I didn’t look forward to Infernal Affairs III. It doesn’t hold the same level as the previous two movies. But that doesn’t mean it’s a bad movie. It feels different compared to the first two movies.
My eyes filled up with tears as usual when the movie was almost finished. There’s something special about the Infernal Affairs trilogy that arouses powerful emotions in me. These movies break my heart. My cold, cold, heart. Usually, I don’t react too much emotionally when watching movies, but the Infernal Affairs movies wake something up deep inside me.
Few people shoot such stylish scenes on a skyscraper roof as the directors of the Infernal Affairs trilogy. The roof scenes are something everyone will remember from Infernal Affairs, and here they are even more beautiful with dimmed colors. Impressive scenes!
Infernal Affairs III also offers some humor. Tony Leung handles the comedy when he has sessions with his psychiatrist played by Kelly Chen. He hates these sessions, and the scenes where he’s hypnotized are good as gold. He eats a huge biscuit and pulls out a huge alarm clock during the session. In these scenes, you see how talented actor Tony Leung is. His reach and charm are outstanding, and few actors have the same abilities as Tony Leung. If you aren’t charmed by this guy, there’s no hope! You are dead inside!
It’s also interesting to follow Ming who is at the beginning of having a serious nervous breakdown after what he saw and did in the first movie. His mental health is fragile, and he deserves it! Burn in hell, man! Burn in hell!
I think the Infernal Affairs trilogy had the right ending. It could have been better, but it could also have been much worse. I rarely get such powerful feelings for a character as Yan when I watch movies. And when all the movies fill my eyes up with tears, there’s something special about these movies.
Infernal Affairs is for me the second best gangster trilogy created after The Godfather trilogy. But The Godfather trilogy doesn’t punch me so hard emotionally in the same way that the Infernal Affairs trilogy does.
After watching the Infernal Affairs trilogy, I dislike The Departed even more. Martin Scorsese never captured the mood and depth of the Infernal Affairs trilogy. When I think of Infernal Affairs, I think of pain. A lot of pain. I also associate The Departed with pain. Pain over how bad it is compared to the Infernal Affairs trilogy, and how little soul there is in that movie.