Internal Affairs review

 Number 196 on the top 1000 films of all time is the Chinese action-thriller 'Internal Affairs.'

Set in Hong Kong, Internal Affairs follows undercover cop Chan Wing-Yan (Tony Leung) as he infiltrates the triads to discover the mole that ruthless boss Sam (Eric Tsang) has implanted within the police. Meanwhile, Sam's mole Lau Kin-Ming (Andy Lau) is trying to discover the identity of the under cover cop in the triads. Both men are in a race against time to discover each other's identities.

If this plot sounds familiar, it's because Martin Scorsese remade this film as The Departed. But I definitely preferred Internal Affairs. There's no doubt that the Departed is a brilliant film, but it's also very American. it's loud, brash and with very little subtlety. 

Internal Affairs is far more nuanced. Instead of being a grandiose affair with gratuitous explosions and gunfire, it is a stripped-back story of two morally-grey characters who are born questioning their directions in life. Dicaprio was great as Wing-Yan's counterpart, but Tony Leung really keyed into the anguish that Wing must have been feeling. He was undercover for almost ten years and can slowly feel his old life slipping away.

Similarly, Andy Lau is starting to question his role in the police force, as he starts to identify as more of a cop than a robber. His boss, Sam, continuously piles on the pressure. Sam was the true villain of the film, and he was a scary villain indeed.

Whereas the Departed ends in an over-dramatic fireball explosion, Internal Affairs is far more understated. *Spoilers* After a drug deal gone wrong, Sam runs like the coward he is, before he is betrayed and killed by his would-be protege Kin-Ming allowing him to have one last confrontation with Wing-yan before one final twist - Sam has more than one mole in the police force, and we see a flashback confirming this. A similar twist occurs in the Departed, but it was better seeded here. It was a lovely, quiet ending to a very good film.

In terms of remake vs original, while the Departed was good, it wasn't nearly as good or as nuanced as Internal Affairs.