Picture: Anamorphic Widescreen. The picture is as crisp and clear as when it was first projected. Every movement and nuance of the camera gorgeous, thanks in no small part to the film's visual consultant, Christopher Doyle, who was Wong Kar Wai's cinematographer on In The Mood For Love and Chungking Express.

Sound: There are many options when choosing the Audio Track for this DVD. There is a Cantonese and a Mandarin Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround Track, as well as a Cantonese DTS 5.1 Surround Track. With optional English, Cantonese and Mandarin subtitles. I don't speak Cantonese, but the sound effects and soundtrack were very effective, and the music was particularly moody and atmospheric. The translation seems to be fine and the subtitles are large and easy to read without distracting from the picture.

Extras: There is an entire second disc of Extras, but alas, not a subtitle in sight, so I am limited in my descriptions of what these contain. There is a Plot Synopsis, which thankfully is in both English and Cantonese. There are several Television Spots and Trailers for the film, two Making of Featurettes, a Music Video (in Cantonese or Mandarin), Cast and Crew Bios and a Photo Gallery with over 20 Posters, Lobby Stills and the like. There are two Easter Eggs that I uncovered on this set, the First of which is on the Extras disc. After toggling through the seven selections that are present on the screen, you can move over to the Movie Title, Infernal Affairs. When you select this, you unlock a hidden reel of bloopers and outtakes. The Second, which is hidden on the first disc, is by far the most impressive. By going to the Chapter Select feature and toggling through to the last four chapters, you can select the Original Theatrical Ending, which plays normally on the disc, or the Alternate Ending(!), which is only viewable through this means. These are some very nice extras, and unlike a lot of Asian DVDs, most can still be appreciated even without a wealth of subtitles.

Conclusion: This is a fantastic DVD set, which actually lives up to its Special Edition title. For those expecting another kinetic action movie, you won't find it here. What you will find, however, is a smart and suspenseful thriller that asks questions about the nature of good and evil, the duality of man and the moral dilemmas created by the collision of two conflicting worlds. I've recently learned that there is an American remake on the way, with no less than Brad Pitt, Leonardo DiCaprio and Martin Scorcese attached. They sure do have a tough act to follow.

Picture: Being a recent film (and a successful one) you would expect a high quality transfer on this disc and thankfully it doesn't disappoint. Letterboxed at 2.35:1 with anamorphic availability, it has an incredibly detailed and bright transfer which really highlights some of the stunning locations used throughout the film. There are a few very minor speckles during certain scenes but they do little to spoil what is an otherwise superb presentation.

Sound: DD 5.1/DTS Cantonese or DD 5.1 Mandarin soundtracks with removable English, simplified Chinese and traditional Chinese subtitles.

Trailers: Teaser, trailer and TV spot for 'Infernal Affairs' along with previews of 'Cat And Mouse', 'Naked Weapon' and 'He Loves Me, He Loves Me Not'.

Talent Files: Info is provided on Andy Lau, Tony Leung, Anthony Wong, Eric Tsang, Edison Chen, Shawn Yue, Lam Ka Tung, Chapman To, Sammi Cheng, Kelly Chan, Elva Hsiao, Christoper Doyle (visual consultant), Alan Mak (director) and Andrew Lau (director).

Extras: These include a story synopsis, behind the scenes footage, music video (Cantonese & Mandarin versions), cast & crew listing and a photo gallery. Sadly, as is becoming the norm on HK discs now, none of these are supplied with English subtitles.

DVD Specs:
Megastar
Region 0
Anamorphic Widescreen 2.30:1
Languages: Cantonese Dolby Digital 5.1, Cantonese DTS, Mandarin DD 5.1, Commentary by cast and crew in Cantonese only
Subtitles: Chinese (Traditional and Simplified), English
Extras: Synopsis, Confidential File (behind the scenes), Making-of, Trailers, Music Video, Photo Gallery, Cast & Crew

Transfer:
I guess I've been spoiled by having watched Megastar's Naked Weapon DVD right before this one, but I felt that the Infernal Affairs transfer was a little too grey for my tastes. Granted, the print is nearly perfect, the colors are failry strong, and it could just be the look of the film (which I dug a lot...a lot of green and blue hues), but the disc can't stand up to the likes of Naked Weapon or Mei Ah's new releases. Definitely don't take this as being bad, because everything is sharp and clean.

Sound:
This is a different story altogether. The DTS track here is great. Like Naked Weapon's DTS, the bass can get pretty heavy and the one gunfight makes good use of the surrounds. The film itself is mostly dialogue driven, so everything sounds crisp and clear. The excellent score by Chan Kwong Wing is suitably amazing.

Extras:
I appreciate the new-found effort for HK companies to do 2 disc sets with excellent packaging, but for some reason, I don't see the need to split it into 2 discs because I'm sure it could fit onto one with no loss in picture or audio quality. In saying that, there is a good selection of extras here besides the typical nonsense (Cast and Crew bios, Story synopsis). Confidential Files is about 10 minutes of behind the scenes footage that is pretty interesting to watch (even without subtitles). The making of is your basic making of feature, with cast and crew interviews and some more behind the scenes shenanigans (without subtitles of course). There is also a music video for the movie's theme song sung by stars Andy Lau and Tony Leung, trailers for the film, other trailers, and a photo gallery. All in all, a good set of extras.

Overall:
For HK cinema fans, this film's a no-brainer to own. The dvd is cheap and the movie is one of the best thrillers to come out of Hong Kong in years. Excellent performances and direction make the film soar above and beyond the rest. Without a doubt, HK film fans owe it to themselves to buy this movie.

This is a damn fine looking dvd though! It'a 2 disc set that comes in a nice slipcase that has a different front and back cover art than the amaray package itself. The 2.35:1 anamorphic transfer looks great throughout and is only marred by some light speckling and grain here and there.

The Cantonese Dolby Digital 5.1 track (converted to 2.0 for my Pro Logic setup) is an enveloping experience and sounds excellent even on my setup. Surrounds are used sparsly but when they kick in, it sounds crisp and truly like you're there, a rare thing. A Cantonese DTS 5.1 and a mandarin DD 5.1 track is also included.

The English subtitles are well written and I noticed no errors whatsoever. For newer Hong Kong movies, the subtitles are generally very good nowadays. Traditional and simplified chinese subtitles are also included.

This package would've been so much more enjoyable if Megastar had put English subtitles on the extras. There's been effort showed in subtitling these things at one other company but sadly not from Megastar. Therefore us non-Cantonese speakers can't appreciate the audio commentary featuring the cast & crew for example.

The first disc has one extra we can enjoy though and that is an alternative ending (presented in 2.35:1 anamorphic widescreen and English subtitles) to the movie. This ending was shot specifically for the mainland china market and you can have it branched into the movie through a simple selection in the menu. Nice but I do prefer the Hong Kong theatrical ending myself.

The second disc (named Avicinar Aka for some reason) has the rest of the extras starting with The Story that is nothing more than the plot synopsis in both English and chinese. Confidential File (8 minutes 47 seconds) is a collection of mostly unnarrated behind the scenes footage including the traditional pre-shoot ceremony and a look at a scene that didn't make the final cut of the film. The subitled but English narrated trailer is also at the end of this segment.

Music Video (3 minutes 25 seconds) is the tune sung by Andy Lau and Tony Leung, that also can be heard at the end of the movie. It's an extremely cheap video that only consists of movie clips and a few quick shots of Andy and Tony in the recording studio. It can be listened to in both Cantonese and mandarin but the video itself is the same for each option.

The Making Of (16 minutes) is, without subtitles, very uninteresting. It features interviews with cast & crew that's intercut with an enormous amount of clips from the film. Some small behind the scenes shots appear but they're too quick and too few to activate any interest in this featurette.

The Making Of (Shot Version) is the same featurette as mentioned above, only divided up into 4 smaller segments. Useless.

The Cast & Credits section has two sub sections, one called Cast & Staff listing (which is exactly what the name implies) and the second being Bio & Filmo. The latter contains quite a hefty amount of biographies/filmographies starting with the crew. They are as follows: co-director and co-cinematographer Andrew Lau, co-director and co-writer Alan Mak and visual consultant Christopher Doyle. None of these offer anything but basic info but a nice touch is the Awards and Nominations listings for the movies and people it concerns.

The cast gets a character bio as well as a actor bio/filmography. They're in the following order: Andy Lau, Tony Leung, Anthony Wong, Eric Tsang, Edison Chen, Shawn Yue, Lam Ka Tung, Chapman To, Sammi Cheng, Kelly Chan and Elva Hsiao. The character bios are useful if you forgot what the characters were all about since watching the film but the actors bio's are again very basic and not very insightful.

The Trailers section houses the Teaser and Theatrical trailer for Infernal Affairs as well as a tv spot for the movie. More attractions gives sneak peeks at Cat & Mouse, Naked Weapon and He Loves Me, He Loves Me Not.

Finally the Photo Gallery let's us wade through four different sections called: Lobby Stills (7 images), Posters (12 images), Outdoor Billboard & Banner (10 images) and Souvenir (12 images). I especially enjoyed looking at the high number and varied posters that were produced for the movie. The Souvener section is very cool also, you can get your own Infernal Affairs toy figures!

There's also an easter egg on this second disc. Just highlight the Infernal Affairs logo and you'll see a 9 minute blooper/outtake reel. It has a few amusing bits but the fres of the time it's pretty dull.

The amount of extras isn't extensive but it's a step in the right direction for HK dvd companies. Now please make English subtitled extras THE next step in the right direction, Megastar!