Infernal Affairs Trilogy: A Hong Kong Film Industry Classic I Must Gush About

Enclosed: watch me discuss absolutely niche opinions and enjoy it, hopefully

For those of you joining in on my journey to rewatch classic movies that I missed out on as a kid, welcome to the Infernal Affairs movie trilogy. A movie produced in Hong Kong, these movies detail the role of undercover cops hiding amidst triad groups and an interesting twist — undercover triad members within the police department. This switch in identities and placing “moles” inside each other’s realms is what makes this movie unique.

Infernal Affairs is truly a classic in the Hong Kong film industry, featuring big names like Tony Leung (yes, of Marvel: Shang-Chi fame), Anthony Wong, Eric Tsang.

These movies form lore that shaped culture, language and references. Growing up, the name Infernal Affairs was used in references; integral scenes of the movies are used throughout Hong Kong TV shows.

So why haven’t I seen it until now?

Well, I was <10 years old when they came out. These movies were just too “mature” for me to have seen them as a kid.

After watching Shang-Chi and being reminded of Leung’s existence, I was ready to go back and finally watch him act in the earlier movies.

Synopsis of all three movies

The original Infernal Affairs surrounds the idea of the “switch” and the tensions that transpire. Eric Tsang is a triad leader that sends a squad of triad members into the police academy, one of whom is played by Andy Lau. Anthony Wong’s character sends Tony Leung’s character into the triad as an undercover cop. Stuff happens.

Because of key character deaths that happen in Infernal Affairs, I’m guessing this is why they decide to set Infernal Affairs II as a prequel instead. We learn that Leung is placed undercover because he turns out to be the illegitimate son of a prominent triad at the time; we also learn about Tsang’s rise from being just some guy to being a Triad leader. We learn that Wong isn’t the good guy we thought he was. There’s heavy commentary about the Sino-British Joint Declaration of 1984 that decolonizes Hong Kong from British rule. Significant scenes in this show were in English.

Infernal Affairs III then talks about the extension of what happens in Infernal Affairs (original) as an extension. With key character deaths, there is now a molehunt within the police departments between the moles planted by Tsang, fostering mistrust. They are trying to get rid of each other so that no one knows that they were ever a mole in the first place. Meanwhile, we see Tsang trying to expand his sphere of influence in the triad to mainland China. Significant scenes in this show were Mandarin, with my favourite being Silly Keung “speaking” Mandarin by speaking Cantonese phrases (e.g., “搞掂”) in a Mandarin accent. 10/10 comedy.

Infernal Affairs Is Really The One With All The Memes

Meme # 1: 你話三年。 三年又三年，三年又三年， 十年都嚟緊頭啦老細!

Translation: You said three years! Three years came and you said three more years, then those three years came and you said three more years, it’s been almost ten years, boss!

Context: Having been an undercover cop since he was first “kicked out” of the police academy, Chan (played by Leung) is now a middle aged man. This line illustrates his frustration at the hope of ditching his undercover identity and finally achieving his dream of being a cop.

Why is this a meme? As I translate it, I realize how not funny it is. It just illustrates the passage of time. To be frank, I’m not sure why it first became a meme in the first place, or why people find it funny. I’ve simply heard it enough times paired with laughter that perhaps I’ve, too, been conditioned to laugh, so has not to stick out like a sore thumb. Perhaps it illustrates a deeper frustration of false promises, relatable across so many dimensions of life, that people related to the concept. The laughter wasn’t enjoyment but an acknowledgment of deeper suffering. Who knows? To illustrate how deeply confused I am, now that I’ve tried to deconstruct this meme, here’s a shrug emoji man: ¯\_(ツ)_/¯.

Meme # 2: 高音甜 中音准 低音勁

Translation: In this meme, the two main characters (played by Leung and Lau) interact with each other outside of the police-triad member dynamic. Instead, they simply bump into each other (before the whole story starts) in an audio equipment score. The phrase translates to “the high notes are sweet, the middle notes are accurate and the bass is strong”. Truthfully, I don’t know why it was a meme either.

Context: Despite the innocuous, non-plot related nature, I heard the phrase first and foremost and didn’t realize it was part of Infernal Affairs until years later. It was borrowed in commercials, jingles, and referenced in numerous tv shows. Maybe it’s the rhythm? The succinctness? The level of interest you have to have in audio equipment, which seemed like a niche interest, until this movie came out? I can only make guesses here. So here’s another shrug emoji person: ¯\_(ツ)_/¯.

Meme #3: Silly Keung “This is how to find out someone is an undercover cop”

傻強：阿迪路，我知道點樣分邊啲喺差人！ Silly Keung: I know how to figure out who’s an undercover cop (UC)! 迪路：點呀？ The other guy: How? 傻強：總之嗰個人做緊一樣嘢，但喺而好專心咁望住我哋，嗰個就係差人。 Silly Keung: Basically if anyone is doing something but they’re inattentively doing it, they’re all cops [Missing in text but scene pans to everyone on the street doing something inattentively] 迪路：係喎…咁咪通街都差人？！ The other guy: Wow, you’re right… that means the whole street is full of cops 傻強：好多嫁。 Silly Keung: yeah there’s a lot!

Why is this iconic? So, now that I’ve translated it, it’s not as funny, but probably the funniest of the three I’ve listed here. It’s basically funny because it’s sandwiched between some of the more intense scenes and acts as silly comic relief. Silly Keung also becomes the iconic trope of “bestie of UC that has no idea and memes really dang hard.

Other references to this specific meme:

• Armed Reaction 2021 — the UC in this show (played by Him Law) has a Silly-Keung-like character sidekick; they specifically reference Infernal Affairs to begin having this discussion of “what if you were a UC would I know”.
• From Vegas to Macau — In this non-cop-related movie focussed on gambling, they have an AI support bot named Silly Keung, likely named directly after the iconic Infernal Affairs character.

Snapshot of Minor Characters That Make It Big in the HK TV Show Industry Later

There are some actors in Infernal Affairs that each become stars in their own right in the HK tv show industry, 20 years later. I’m pretty sure literally no one has written about this because I’ve gone down such a rabbit hole to find this information.

Benjamin Yuen: He appears in Infernal Affairs (original) and Infernal Affairs III as a police officer. I’m not even sure he has lines in either, but mostly what we see is when the camera pans around, you see his face, in the background for a split second. Now, 20 years later, he’s known for playing Main roles in shows like Threesome, Stealing Seconds, Another Era, The Defected (which might be on Netflix???), Line Walker III, etc.

Jonathan Cheung: He appears in Infernal Affairs II for a split second while in a car in the backseat. I honestly thought he was just playing some extra role but it turns out he’s actually playing the younger version of Da B (林國平), who is more of a prominent character in Infernal Affairs. While Cheung hasn’t played any main roles yet (according to his Wikipedia page), he’s played major supporting roles in recent shows like Plan B and Take Two; I most know him for his role in A Fist Within Four Walls, Swipe Tap Love and Three Kingdoms RPG.

I don’t know what information this gives to anyone who hasn’t already seen Infernal Affairs as a trilogy, or know these actors already, but I hope you can bask in the excitement of knowing and loving someone’s work and finding out that they were some tiny tiny tiny minor character in a classic movie from 20 years ago.

Final Words

I went a really deep dive into this trilogy after I finished the whole thing. I began the journey in searching for these minor characters. Also, I was motivated by wanting to know how the quotes from Buddha, included at the beginning and end of each movie, were related to the plot and meaning of the movie:

• “The worst of the Eight Hells is called Continuous Hell. It has the meaning of Continuous Suffering. Thus the name.”
• “He who is in Continuous Hell never dies. Longevity is a big hardship in Continuous Hell.”

I still do not understand how they are related, even with Wikipedia’s gentle translation.

Further rabbit hole reveals some deeper themes in the movie that I entirely missed, including how this trilogy is supposed to represent the post-colonial identity crisis in Hong Kong. Know that people have written papers on this movie discussing deeper political identity themes.

It really makes me wonder what taking a film studies course in undergrad would have been like. Is it like taking English and pulling apart themes and narrative points, but instead of a book, a movie? Is it? Perhaps I will take a Coursera course for this topic, someday.

Hi, I’m Lucy Dan 蛋小姐 (she/her/她) and I’m on a mission to document everything that I’ve watched as more of an active engagement with the things I consume rather than a passive zoning out. Want to check out what else I’ve watched and written about?