The Viral Factor 2011

Lights, Camera... and... ACTION!!

RexH Flicks Superstar (?)

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Want even MORE bang for your buck? Then the Viral Factor is for you! The Chinese title for this flick is "Uphill Battle" and director Lam seems to have taken that definition to heart, because the protagonists barely have enough time to catch a breath between catching bullets. This is an adrenaline-fuelled ride that makes most American actioners look tame, which perhaps is why so many of the American reviews are so harsh on it. Movie Buzzer seems to be the only review that got it and Variety was reasonably kind.
Yes, the plot is a bit of a mess and a grab-bag of well-worn themes from both Hong Kong and Hollywood and yes, John Woo did this sort of thing better twenty years ago, but this is not a thinking man's action movie; it's aimed a little lower than that. It's a swift kick in the balls that sends an electric current racing to the brain and back for two straight hours of almost non-stop gunfire, car chases, stunt work, explosions, leaping, falling, brawling, stabbing, kicking and screaming that, by the time the end-credits roll, has you in a sweaty heap and gasping "Bloody hell!" It's quite a ride and some of the set pieces are brilliantly done. I suspect director Lam had Woo's "A Better Tomorrow" and "Bullet in the Head" in mind when making this, and a touch of "Hard Boiled" for good measure. But there's no "poetry of violence" here, no Chow Yun Fat, baby in one arm, gun in the other, blasting his way through a hospital ward in slow mo (although there is a nod when a female protagonist takes a bullet literally in the head in slow mo in the film's opening scene). This is a "wow pow" flick. Suspend your disbelief, forget the plot holes, don't look for subtleties, just strap in and enjoy the ride!