4K Ultra HD – Edition FR – The Jokers – 100 min // 119 min // 118 min – 22 February 2023
Video format
• Intermediate Master: 4K
• Standard HDR: HDR10
• Ratio: 2.35
Soundtrack
• Cantonese DTS-HD MA 5.1
• English DTS-HD MA 5.1
Subtitles
• French
It is brought to the attention of our dear readers as well as the viewing equipment specified and used by each tester of the MaG team, the rendering may differ from one installation to another, whether or not it is calibrated, as well as personal preferences and expectations may influence the rating. Moreover, the images in the article are not representative of the edition tested.
WORK – Living the permanent hell
Over more than ten years, the parallel journey of two infiltrators, one in the police, the other in the Hong Kong underworld.
Purpose of a remake by Martin Scorsese (The Infiltrators), the trilogy that revolutionized Hong Kong's polar (it gave a new breath to a then moribund industry) is a reflection on devotion and the quest for redemption that questions the place of Good and Evil and rests on the moral ambiguity of the characters, two « tragic heroes » can be seen as two faces of the Pearl of the East then caught between an inaccessible past and an uncertain future (following the surrender to China in 1997).
In the psychological hell of infiltration, where the secret is both a threat and a guarantor of identity(s), the time marches and the destructive state tightens while the masks fall. For spectators, a thrilling suspense to virtuoso staging (which evokes the formal modernity of Michael Mann) and to exceptional actors (Andy Lau, Tony Leung, Eric Tsang, Anthony Wong, etc.) whose mafia dramatic structure is built on a perfectly chiseled scenario abandoning operatic shootings (so dear to John Woo) for an exciting interlacing of manipulations. A great classic to (re)discover any ceasing business!
IMAGE – Mirror effect
The results of a 4K restoration (for the three films) carried out by Media Asia from the original negatives 35 mm at the premises of L-Immagine Ritrovata (who supervised the transfers), these images calibrated by One Cool Production reach us in UHD HDR10 with ups and downs.
The improved return of the silver grain (cleaner and more preserved) and the optimized management of the high luminances (the appearance of details behind the windows) are not alien to them, yet they are somewhat tested by curiously flattened blacks (sometimes even coloured) and an abnormally diminished pitch (as on the broad planes of the city). Beyond capture, it is mainly the numerical origin of the calibration adjustment that causes it.
Moreover, the more nuanced colorimetric palette has been clearly refreshed (minor changes, such as the increased heat of the primaries, which in no way alter the visual identity of the photograph) and the light sources, sensitive to the places and/or people they illuminate (cold in the police offices, hot in the presence of Yan, greenish in the criminal environment), display with more intensity than in CSD (the countless reflections are superb).
SON – The Forgotten Time
Between the ambient noises of urban life and the dialogues drawn by the line, this soundtrack encoded in DTS-HD MA 5.1 immerses us without false note within the police and triads of Hong Kong. But for more truthfulness, the most detailed VO (cf. the richness of environments) is to be preferred over its French consœur (despite a quality dubbing).
The dynamic impresses, the sound effects are robust (the shots fired, the road traffic), the spatialization which is very accurate (the ventilation of Dr Lee's psychology firm) is immersive (the rear scene is not unemployed), the LFE channel is used efficiently, the memorable music is faithfully transcribed and the voices, so important in the transmission of tension, remain always clear.
CONCLUSION – The inevitable fatality
For the first time in 4K Ultra HD and Blu-ray (France), the cult trilogy Infernal Affairs bursts into our home-cinephile lives with this magnificent limited edition box that includes more than two hours of 100% unreleased complements (several make-ofs, cut scenes, a documentary, interviews) and a book of 200 pages translated for the occasion (Infernal Affairs: Between heaven and hell of Gina Marchetti).
And if the new 4K restoration is not exempt from certain reserves (starting with sweetness), this neurotic hunt placed under the sign of repentance (between two men worn out by their dual identity) will never have been as definitive as today. 20, age of the possible?
Artistic note
9
Video quality
7.5
Audio quality
9
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