You know how the 3rd installment in "The Godfather" trilogy is hands-down the lower rank installment compared to the previous 2? Well it's the same here, this is a very bland and boring sequel that tried to milk the story as much as it could. I thoroughly enjoyed the first "Infernal Affairs" and the second one was okay. But this third one just added in bunch of elements and characters to milk the story into a franchise. With the ending for the first one, I know it can be very difficult to expand the story. But they went for it anyways and the results are disastrous. So what this is, is a prequel and a sequel to the first one. So they can bring back some of the deceased character that don't have all that much to do within the screen time. Chen Wing-yan was one of my favorite character as the ballsy undercover cop. But in this he has almost nothing to do, so it focuses in on his relationship with his friends which was already settled. And more on the romance between him and his psychiatrist. And let me tell you, the romance between the two is boring to sit through and just seemed like a muddled mess. The psychiatrist is just there for plot device when it comes to the ending. I did like the cat and mouse game between Lau Kin-ming (the mole from the previous one) and Superintendent Yeung Kam-wing whole plays Lau's rival as his equal. When it comes to his methodical planning and clever ways to out think his opponents. I think they should have played more with this instead of skimming over it. Because it sort of reminded me of the confrontation between Walter White and Gus Fring. I wouldn't be surprised if "Breaking Bad" borrowed some of the cat and mouse elements from this film. However some of the dialogues are so corny despite the characters trying to deliver it in a cool fashion. Overall, this is a incoherent and boring finale to tie up loose ends.
5/10
5/10