Saw the IniD movie, finally, and LOVED it.

Even the plot changes! Especially, in some places, the plot changes - as soon as you can get your brain to parse the whole 'ryousuke is no longer yasashii aniki medical student and ps is played by Edison Chen' thing it starts to make some kind of sense, and with both Shingo and darling Keisuke out of the way no wonder Nakazato and Ryousuke are so very very gay for each other! Poor Nakazato, never quite good enough for Ryousuke and then tragically cut out by the new ingenue. <3 <3 <3

The conflation of Itsuki and Iketani into one crazyspoilt Chapman To was completely inspired - the whole 'i wanna gtr' 'i'll buy you a benz!' 'i wanna gtr' 'and a rolex!' 'i wanna gtr' scene just KILLED me. And of course I love Anne Suzuki dearly (SO CUTE! she is in practically all my j-teen mags, her and the adorable Aya Ueto who is slightly less adorable now), and she really suited her part, the desire to act the role of nice normal girl-next-door. Bunta... someone else - aha, starlighter, here - has talked about how the Bunta-Takumi relationship kind of lost something by having all that dysfunction added, and they were right, but on the other hand I love Anthony Wong and he was really so, so good. And totally slimmed down, as well, which was kind of odd as I think of him being more teddybearish.

(my brother came into the room while I was watching it and was all 'oh, that's- so this is another-?' infernal affairs, he meant; nah, i said, same directors, though.)

He was a perfect casting, as well, for either version of Bunta, unlike Edison Chen who I think of as rather too sulky (when I first heard the cast list I assumed he would be, like, Keisuke? even Takumi.), there's something knowing and stupid-boy in his smile that I don't really think suits. Mind you, my image of him is based partly on the one moment at the end of InfAffII where he meets Mary, where he smiles in the most most perfect way and the audience I saw it with COLLAPSED in laughter; and partly on gossip from a hk socialite boy I know who is all 'oh edison, he's so stuck up, ugh'.

There was one bit of plotting I didn't like, which was how the engine blow came /after/ Takumi's getting interested in the concept of car mechanics; I thought the anime dealt with that better. Not so fond of Takumi's fighting the threesome battle (you KNOW it) while angry about Mogi, either. I liked it when Takumi could only drive his best cool-headed, preferably going 'meh' and gazing off into the distance. but minor quibbles, because the rest of it was just wow.

also CAR SCENES AS GOOD AS THE ANIME WTF.

Wierd, too, because it's solidly a good film, and I've been watching so many films recently which are my 'best.film.ever.' types, which normally means 'my god this is INSANE i love it' rather than 'this is honestly competently made/scripted'.

Also, I cannot stop singing Moxy Fruevous every time I see Ashley Giles. Send help pls.