Infernal Affairs II – ***

I watched the sequel/prequel to Infernal Affairs the other day. I didn’t think it was nearly as good as the first one, but stands up on it’s own as a good movie.

I was worried that I’d only find the movie interesting because I’ve seen the first flick, but was pleasantly surprised that the writers/directors added new material that wasn’t dependent on the other film and expanded on the roles/stories/plot/history of the characters. I think it could stand on it’s own as a decent flick. But then again, I wonder if I’d say that had I not seen the first one. All in all a good rental. Not quite as epic as The Godfather, but a decent comparison in a way.

Another good thing about this movie is that there seems to be more attention being paid to the story and less to the blockbuster actors. In the first flick it seemed that whenever Andy Lau and Tony “Scruffy” Leung were on the screen it wasn’t just for the movie’s plot. It was almost as if the moviemakers were reminding you- hey, our movie’s important, check out the stars we got for this flick. Granted, they were good and all, but you get my drift right? Fortunately for IA2 the whole ensemble is good and you don’t miss any of the (major) stars.

You know, I’m all hopped up on advil and cold medicine, so I’m going to end this “review” now before I ramble on straight to hell.