Infernal Affairs · reception & legacy

2002 · Alan Mak Siu-Fai

How Infernal Affairs has been received, argued over, and remembered.

The arc

A monster hit that single-handedly jolted Hong Kong cinema out of its post-handover slump in 2002, it went from regional phenomenon to global canon after Hollywood came calling — and the 2022 Criterion trilogy box sealed its 'modern classic' status in the West.

What's debated

The eternal fight: is it better than The Departed? Every few months film Twitter and Letterboxd re-litigate original vs. remake, with 'the original is tighter and cooler' vs. 'Scorsese deepened it' as the two immovable camps.

Its footprint

The rooftop face-off between Tony Leung and Andy Lau is one of the most iconic images in 21st-century Asian cinema, endlessly homaged and parodied — and the film's whole undercover-mole premise became a template that thrillers everywhere still borrow.

Where it stands

A 'you must see the original first' gateway film into Hong Kong cinema — a Letterboxd staple whose reviews are practically a genre of their own ('better than The Departed' has thousands of likes).

★ Did you know? Miramax bought the US rights but gave it only a tiny release — then four years later its Hollywood remake, The Departed, won Best Picture and finally handed Martin Scorsese his first directing Oscar.

Named by the director

Influences Alan Mak Siu-Fai has publicly named — the director's own word, distinct from the inferred lines of influence.

Face/Off (1997) — Alan Mak has said the story idea came to him after watching John Woo's Face/Off, sparking the concept of two men living swapped identities — reworked without the sci-fi surgery.