8.1 | / 10 |
Users | 0.0 | |
Reviewer | 4.0 | |
Overall | 4.0 |
Two undercover moles—a police officer assigned to infiltrate a ruthless triad by posing as a gangster, and a gangster who becomes a police officer in order to serve as a spy for the underworld—find themselves locked in a deadly game of cat and mouse, each racing against time to unmask the other.
Starring: Andy Lau, Anthony Chau-Sang Wong, Eric Tsang, Kelly Chen (I), Sammi ChengForeign | 100% |
Drama | 49% |
Crime | 22% |
Thriller | Insignificant |
Video codec: MPEG-4 AVC
Video resolution: 1080p
Aspect ratio: 2.35:1
Original aspect ratio: 2.39:1
Cantonese: DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 (48kHz, 24-bit)
English
Blu-ray Disc
Single disc (1 BD)
Region A (locked)
Movie | 4.5 | |
Video | 4.0 | |
Audio | 5.0 | |
Extras | 4.5 | |
Overall | 4.0 |
Alan Mak and Andrew Lau's "Infernal Affairs" (2002) arrives on Blu-ray courtesy of Criterion. The supplemental features on the release include new program with the two directors; making featurette; outttakes; archival interviews; promotional materials; and more. In Cantonese, with optional English subtitles for the main feature. Region-A "locked".
Presented in an aspect ratio of 2.35:1, encoded with MPEG-4 AVC and granted a 1080p transfer, Infernal Affairs arrives on Blu-ray courtesy of Criterion.
The following text appears inside the booklet that is provided with this Blu-ray release:
"These 4K digital restorations (for the three films) were undertaken by Media Asia from the 35mm original camera negatives at L'Immagine Ritrovata's facilities in Bologna, Italy, and Hong Kong. The original 5.1 surround soundtracks were remastered from the digital audio master files.
Transfer supervision: L'Immagine Ritrovata, Asia, Hong Kong.
Color grading: One Cool Production."
I have only one other release of Infernal Affairs in my library, which is included in this three-disc set the defunct British label Palisades Tartan produced in 2010. I performed various extensive comparisons to see what type of improvements the new 4K restoration of Infernal Affairs offers. There are some good news and some not so good news, so I will break my comments for both below.
The good news - The entire film has a better balanced appearance. In some areas, highlights are managed significantly better and as a result a lot of backgrounds with different ranges of light look more convincing (see screencapture #11). The fluidity of the visuals is better as well. However, the larger your screen is, the easier it will be for you to conclude that its consistency could have been better. I assume that in native 4K the fluidity of the visuals would be outstanding, but I could be wrong (I will explain why below). Color balance is fine. There are some minor changes where warmer primaries and supporting nuances emerge, but they do not alter the personality and identity of the film. Image stability is outstanding. The entire film looks spotless as well.
The not so good news - The film looks softer than I expected. It is easy to conclude that some of the stylization contributes to the softness, but it is just as easy to tell that there are anomalies that do the same as well. For example, there are darker areas where the dynamic range of the visuals is off. You can see an obvious example in screencapture #18. This is not how the film was shot and ought to look in high-definition. The gray flattening that you see has a digital origin and was introduced in the lab. What is unclear is whether it was introduced during the color grading adjustments or by digital work that affects the surface of the visuals. If I had to guess, I would write that it is a little bit of both. So, depth, sharpness, and clarity fluctuate, and while some of these fluctuations are introduced by the original cinematography, some are not. Finally, some of the darker areas are on the verge of producing macroblocking. I did not encounter any troubling areas because the film manages to hide the shaky spots very well, but this is an issue that easily could have been avoided. My score is 3.75/5.00. (Note: This is a Region-A "locked" Blu-ray release. Therefore, you must have a native Region-A or Region-Free player in order to access its content).
There is only one standard audio track on this Blu-ray release: Cantonese DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1. Optional English subtitles are provided for the main feature. When turned on, they appear inside the image frame.
The lossless track is outstanding. I had my audio system roaring and was quite impressed by some of the dynamic contrasts. However, I must mention that the lossless track on the Region-B release I have in my library performs very well, too. The dialog is always clear, stable, and very easy to follow. The English translation is outstanding.
The Infernal Affairs trilogy is a humongous acquisition for the Criterion Collection. Each entry in the trilogy is a minor masterpiece that highlights, in different ways, everything that makes contemporary Hong Kong gangster films special. In an exclusive new program, directors Andrew Lau and Alan Mak confess that they were lucky to "round the best people at the time" to work with them and this is the truth. Even some of the minor parts in the Infernal Affairs trilogy are done by great actors and future stars. The three films have been redone in 4K and at the moment this three-disc box set has the best presentation of each that I have seen to date. However, I think that the 4K makeovers and the technical presentations could have been more convincing. RECOMMENDED.
(Still not reliable for this title)
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