The Viral Factor
Synopsis:
The movie started off with an International Security Affairs agent Jon (Jay Chou)who is one of the agents in-charge of escorting a viral scientist and his family out from Jordan. However, their team were ambushed when one of his team member, Sean Wong (Andy On) betray them and shot Jon in the head. When Jon woke up in the hospital, the doctor told him that he has around 2 weeks left before he became totally paralyzed. As such, he decided to spent the rest of his remaining weeks with his mother (Elaine Jin). But his mother decided to tell him that he has an elder brother, Man Yeung (Nicholas Tse) whom she left behind when she fled from his gambler addict husband, Man Tin (Liu Ka Chi). With only a photo of them during small time, Jon managed to tracked both his father and brother in Malaysia and hope to bring all of them to meet with his mother before he became totally paralyze. At the same time, the scientist was kidnapped and brought to Malaysia but was killed in an accident during his escape. We learn that Sean kidnapped the scientist so that he can produce a mutated small pox virus to infect the whole world, while also produce an antidote and vaccine to make profit. With no scientist to produce the virus and vaccine, he decided to kidnapped Dr.Kan, another viral scientist by employing a few thugs including Man Yeung. During the kidnapping, Dr.Kan who incidentally ran into Jon and form a bond while inside a flight to Malaysia managed to be rescued by Jon who didn't notice Man Yeung. When Jon to meet up with his father, Man Tin, he learn of his elder brother and his daughter harsh upbringing and decided to help him. However, with Man Yeung 2nd failure attempt in capturing Dr.Kan, a corrupt police force paid by Sean Wong decided to eliminate Man Yeung and others to cover up their tracks and during the process, Man Tin is killed while Dr.Kan and Man Yeung's daughter are both kidnapped. With nowhere to go, both Jon and Man Yeung decided to form their brotherhood and rescue Dr.Kan and his daughter from Sean's clutches. Finally in order to take down Sean, Jon sacrifice his life to rescue Man Yeung and his daughter. And the final scene shows Man Yeung and his daughter reunited with his mother.
Review:
This is one of the most tiring film to watch simply because the action is relentless and non-stop in the hot desert in Jordan up to Malaysia. There are occasional breaks for some emotional drama but 80% of the movie is non-stop action all the way. The action scenes are brutal especially the car chase, car and van crashes, and etc. that i have ever witness in HK movie. The two leads, Jay Chou and Nicholas Tse are commendable in their performance but i felt Nicholas has an extra edge in portraying a broken Man Yeung which is the reason why he won the 2011 best actor award in HK (equivalent to US Academy Award). Jay Chou performance at least improve more than his previous movies which was often criticize for his weak acting and expression-less face. Although there are some uneven editing and scenes just abruptly ended without any explanation, it was compensated with fast action filled stunts and car chase. The cinematography is not so good especially with the color looks almost nostalgia-type when it was filmed in Malaysia. Overall, director Dante Lam has really managed to carve his name as one of the best HK action-director with his previous gems such as Beast Stalker, Stool Pigeon but The Viral Factor provides lesser edge compared to his previous 2 movies.
Verdict:
I give this a 3.5 out of 5 for the non-stop action.
No comments:
Post a Comment