The scales fall from someone’s eyes

This crime drama(Infernal Affairs), from 2002, delivers mole-on-mole action, revolving around a couple of Hong Kong cops (Tony Leung and Andy Lau). One works undercover, reporting from the entourage of a high-spirited and merciless drug lord (Eric Tsang). The other works openly for the police department but secretly as a informer for the same villain. Neither policeman knows what the other looks like, and it takes a flurry of nervous pursuits and rooftop encounters before the scales fall from their eyes.

The movie presents itself as a stack of character studies, but the leads are constructed from layers of impassive cool, and the roles for women—a shrink, an old flame—are comically fleeting. What makes the picture work is its energetic devotion to the play of gleam and shadow—to a vision of Hong Kong as a natural hotbed of treason and double cross. With Anthony Wong as the police chief, who suffers an amazing fall from grace. Directed by Andrew Lau and Alan Mak.
–The New York