COPYCAT KILLERS

Reviewed - Infernal Affairs 2: Infernal Affairs, which every critic on the planet enjoyed more than this writer, was an annoyingly monochromatic - now all grey, now all green - Hong Kong walkthrough of Michael Mann's Heat. Infernal Affairs 2 marks a major step forward for the directors: the new film is an annoyingly monochromatic - now blue, now yellow - Hong Kong walkthrough of The Godfather.

The boss sits in his chair in the library contemplating moral oblivion. An older hoodlum survives an assassination attempt and returns to testify against his superiors. The family gathers round for a group photograph. And so on.

So unsettling are the nods to Coppola's films that Infernal Affairs begins to take on the quality of some weird post-modern experiment. Only it is even more irritating than that suggests.

The picture is actually a prequel to the first film and, against the backdrop of the handover of Hong Kong to the Chinese, tells the story of the relationship between a senior officer and a contact in the mob. The twists and counter twists are so involved that it is neither desirable nor possible to go into any greater detail about the plot. And, anyway, these films are really just about style, style, style.

In the film-makers' defence, they do impose a singular visual fingerprint on their work, and those seeking glib, neon cool will find it in abundance. Those in search of coherence, depth or reason should look elsewhere.