Mou gaan dou III: Jung gik mou gaan

Having now watched the entire INFERNAL AFFAIRS trilogy, I've concluded that only the original film was necessary. The first sequel took the form of a prequel, an entirely extraneous piece of back story that adding nothing to the original and would have worked better as a stand alone movie. This, the second sequel, is even worse, a muddled attempt at tying together both prequel and sequel, adding in lots of entirely superfluous stuff and additional characters that are all entirely necessary.

Tony Leung returns to the movie series, but his scenes amount to nothing more than padding; his character was so carefully delineated in the first movie, there's entirely nothing to add. Andy Lau has the most interesting role in a sub-plot that follows on directly from the first film's, and this section of the film was the most entertaining. But it's still rather unnecessary, and would have been much better had it been tied up at the end of the first film, as Scorsese did when he remade the series as THE DEPARTED.

Overall, INFERNAL AFFAIRS 3 feels confused and muddled. The constant jumping between past and present happens so much that it's ridiculous, and it becomes overwhelming clear that this was only rushed out to make a quick buck or two after the success of the original film.

Infernal Affairs 3 builds cleverly on the plotline of the first movie, but with its complex story and frequent switches between past and present, is likely to seriously confuse anyone who comes to it without having seen Part 1 first to understand the two main characters. For those who have, this film brings out further details of the relationship between the two, superbly played again by Tony Leung and Andy Lau. With frequent flashbacks, the film focuses on extending the story of Triad mole Ming (Andy Lau), warping up the tension as the stresses of his double life become intolerable. Leon Lai's usual expressionless performance, which mars his other films, works well here as it leaves you few clues about his character's motivation until the climax.

If you enjoyed Part 1, you will enjoy this. (I haven't seen Part 2 yet.)

While this is a great film with an incomparable score and outstanding cinematography, it leaves a lot to be desired.

It is really not necessary as the first two films really give us all we need. It is light on action and heavy on psychological trauma. Andy Lau as Inspector Lau has taken care of all the moles - or he thinks he has. he is not sure and wants to be clear there is nothing tying him to Sam so he can be the good cop he wants to be. SP Leung is a creepy fellow and we are never sure just what he is. Is he a mole, or just a crooked cop. It is never clear.

I was glad that Kelly Chen got a much bigger role as Dr. lee, but it would have been even better if we saw a relationship with Yan. It was obvious that she had love for him, but it never blossomed on screen. Yes, I know that would be a violation of the doctor-patient relationship, but it was there under the surface. Why didn't it come out.

We got to see quite a bit of Tony Leung in this film, and that is always a good thing.

It was very distracting the way the film jumped back and forth through time. It was trying to tie up the loose ends, but it was disconcerting.

It could have been an outstanding film, but it'll just have to be great to see the actors and enjoy their performance.

If you loved the first two 'Internal Affairs' movie, then you'll probably find it easy to also enjoy this concluding part: if not, you may find it more difficult. Part one was a tense thriller; part two, more epic in tone, a prequel that filled in the back story, concentrating on some of the secondary characters from the first film. But it's not completely clear where there's any plot left to fill a third part. What this film does is overlay the previous stories with an additional layer of romanticism and complexity; but there's a certain lack of focus to the plot, with almost all of our favourite characters already dead by the end of the second film (although, in flashback, there's a rebirth for the great Tony Leung, absent from part two). Indeed, the film works almost entirely by encouraging us to feel differently about scenes we have already witnessed. I still liked this third story about the quiet men of violence, and it did succeed in feeling like something more than just a repeat of the earlier films. But it's not so clear how much it adds to them.

The last installment in the Infernal Affairs trilogy is surprisingly slow moving, but still has the high production values and intricate story of the first two, although as a whole it is slightly less engaging than the preceding films. There have been a lot of comparisons between this trilogy and The Godfather films, and the similarities in story-telling structure and the overall arc of the sequels are definitely there, although I have to admit that I think the Godfathers exist on an entirely different level as these films. The Infernal Affairs films are good, but they're not THAT good.

There is a lot of work in bringing together the stories of the first two films and it definitely adds to them, but I found this one to be too slow moving, although the pace picked up by the third act and the final scene is definitely impressive.

On the other hand, the trilogy ends on a serious downer - "Ksitigarbha Sutra - 'People of the like shall be cast into the Avinci Hell and will continue to suffer from Kalpas to Kalpas with no means of escape.'

I may as well just admit that I don't know the meaning or source of this quote, but it sure seems like a depressing note to end the trilogy on. Nevertheless, despite being just a little bit of a let-down (like countless trilogy finales), Internal Affairs 3 is a necessary closure, and Asian cinema fans are sure to eat it up.