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Century Of The Dragon (1999) |
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Century of the Dragon is the inspiration behind Infernal Affairs.
Century of the Dragon is a strong and well-crafted thriller, with certain similarities in plot and certainly character development to that of its 'forefather', Infernal Affairs. It is therefore safe to say that this film influenced Andrew Lau's international hit some years later. Much like the aforementioned modern classic, there are no two dimensional characters and the plot actually has very few holes. The actors are virtually all perfectly cast and fulfill their individual on-screen personas remarkably. Andy Lau and Louis Koo, two male leads who could be branded as mere popular star faces in fact turn in incredibly balanced and defined performances, particularly Koo, who shows the painful trauma of an undercover cop who must either fulfill his duty or remain loyal to the boss who has treated him well. Patrick Tam gives his best villainous performance since Beast Cops a year previous, and Anthony Wong, although in a minor supporting role here, provides solid support. The film certainly does not posses the complexity of plot or richness of a film like Infernal Affairs but nevertheless, as a pre- Infernal Affairs effort, it provides us with one of the better cop/triad stories of the late 1990s.
The tone is unusually dark and serious, and for fans of Infernal Affairs it provides an interesting opportunity to keep an eye out for details that would later return to the screen in Andrew Lau and Alan Mak's popular trilogy.
Highly recommended.
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Mike Fury 11/17/2006 - top |
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