Infernal Affairs 3 (2003, Hong Kong)

Whoa. If Infernal 2 was labyrinthine, plot-wise, Infernal 3 ratchets things up another degree, but does it almost entirely inside Ming’s (Andy Lau) head. After killing Yan (Tony Leung, very welcome in flashbacks), Ming is out to rid the Hong Kong police department of all of Sam’s other moles, but he’s having trouble keeping it together – Yan’s insomnia seems to have transferred to him, along with his obsession with the female shrink, and possibly other parts of his personality. In short, Ming is going nuts, but it’s hard to gauge how nuts until the final half hour, because the story keeps slingshotting back and forth between the present and six months before Yan’s death. It’s simultaneously less and more confusing than Infernal 2 was, and might actually have been more successful had it concentrated on Ming and used Yan only to flesh out Ming's growing instability, but Infernal 3 doesn’t detract from the myth, and does end up adding some interesting depth to the central characters.

Miami Vice (2006, USA)

I’m rarely bored with Michael Mann’s films, even if I don’t particularly like them (Collateral is a good example). Heat has long been one of my favorite cops-and-robbers action films, and so though I don’t like either Colin Farrell or Jamie Foxx, I had some hope that Miami Vice would at least be fun. Wrong. It’s deadly boring, and the central characters are so flat that the potential chemistry of the central crew, one of the best aspects of Heat, is completely wasted here, despite a good supporting cast that includes Gong Li, Justin Theroux and Naomie Harris (Harris fares best, but gets blown up for her efforts). The one redeeming factor is the gorgeous photography, something that never disappoints in a Mann film, but this alone certainly can’t make up for an underdeveloped story, anemic characters, and an overall sense of pointlessness. Also, Farrell looks like a ratty 70’s pimp. Why?