Alan Mak Siu-Fai
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Filmography
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Connections, in both directions
Quentin Tarantino’s two Kill Bills are clearly referenced/homaged, as are the original Oldboy, the movies of Sam Peckinpah, the Infernal Affairs films (which served as the inspiration for Martin Scorsese’s The Departed) and the earlier Hong Kong thrillers made by John Woo, Tsui Hark and Ringo Lam (particularly the A Better Tomorrow movie trilogy).
In a plot vaguely reminiscent of “The Departed” and “Infernal Affairs,” the Hong Kong crime drama on which it was based, Rama goes undercover as Yuda inside a Jakarta crime family, where he encounters Japanese Yakuza and corrupt members of the Jakarta police.
What plot that follows is a series of reveals and reversals that borrow liberally from Hong Kong action films (Infernal Affairs, in particular), but really, all that is secondary to the film’s endlessly inventive action set-pieces, which are kinetically shot and meticulously paced like mini three-act operas.
Self-congratulatory types may observe The Raid 2: Berandal in terms of its smorgasbord of cinematic influences, and pat themselves on the back for catching its touchstones: the A Better Tomorrow and Infernal Affairs trilogies, the filmography of Johnnie To, The Godfather: Part II, maybe even a little The Untouchables.
If this sounds like the Hong Kong classic Infernal Affairs (Americanized by Martin Scorsese as The Departed ), well, who's complaining?
Sullivan is a Costello minion working within the law, while Costigan is to be propped with criminal cred in order to infiltrate Costello's underworld set; the geometry has been borrowed from the acclaimed Infernal Affairs trilogy, but all its staccato brutality, familial links, and street honor only remind us of how much Hong Kong cinema has borrowed from Scorsese to begin with.
The basic idea was inspired by "Infernal Affairs," a 2002 action thriller from Hong Kong, and already a classic of sorts.
On the other hand, as a fairly faithful remake of the 2002 Hong Kong cop thriller, "Infernal Affairs," it's one of his more plot-driven movies, and it apes the distinct sensibility of the Hong Kong gangster movie, right down to its rather silly signature climax.
The story is inspired by " Infernal Affairs " (2002) by Alan Mak and Andrew Lau , the most successful Hong Kong film of recent years.
The second half of this Boston-set thriller, based on the sleek, more sparingly brutal 2002 Hong Kong export "Infernal Affairs," can't quite match it, despite a few bursts of startling violence handled as only a first-rate director can.
Martin Scorsese has taken the Hong Kong action classic, Infernal Affairs, borrowed its very deserving skeleton, and re-packed it with the distinctly American sensibilities of gangsters, corruption and betrayal in Irish Boston.
The story itself, despite the various plot twists, is a bit thin, drawing upon the theme of the duplicitous gangster/policeman now familiar to audiences from many of John Woo's films, with Face/Off (1997) the most explicit and ironic take on this trope.
Andy Lau (Infernal Affairs, the Hong Kong movie that inspired The Departed) is a major star in China and a terrific actor, but you’d never know it watching him look grim as Strategist Wang.
The Chinese army officially known as the Nameless Order is led by the noble Gen. Shao (Hanyu Zhang) and his chief strategist Wang (Andy Lau, “Infernal Affairs”).
William Monahan, who did the script for The Departed, an adaptation of the Hong Kong thriller Infernal Affairs, also adapted this one.
Monaghan gives his dialogue such a deliberate pace and wording, very much the product of the man who was able to transport the Asian crime-thriller “Infernal Affairs” to rural Boston, while also maintaining the tone and feel of James Toback’s writing.
Keeping in mind the delicious ways in which Martin Scorsese expanded upon Infernal Affairs for The Departed , it would be interesting to see what he could do with The Raid: Redemption, although there are plenty of other directors whose visions might be as enticing (including Evans).
Producer Adi Shankar has described “Gangs” as “an important and monumental movie for my people,” comparing it to other influential global hits from developing nations, like South Korea’s “Oldboy,” Hong Kong’s “Infernal Affairs” or Brazil’s “City of God.” He’s trying to hype the picture, of course, but that gives you some idea of how it’s seen in India.
In some ways, Oldboy is Korea’s answer to Hong Kong’s Infernal Affairs, an undercover cop movie with undercover gangsters.
With his true identity concealed from his Agency handler by a high-tech 'scramble suit', Arctor is soon ordered to investigate himself as the prime suspect in the Substance D supply chain - but instead of racing to cover his own tracks like the similarly compromised protagonists of No Way Out and Infernal Affairs, our 'scrambled' agent struggles even to remember that he and Arctor are the same person.
The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo (2011)
Directed by David Fincher
influenced by Infernal Affairs (2002)
Plot
Let Me In, Matt Reeves' take on the Swedish vampire yarn Let the Right One In, is one example; The Departed, Martin Scorsese's version of the Hong Kong import Infernal Affairs, is another (Oscar wins notwithstanding).