Pssst, want to check out Jik zin in our new look?
Information
- A.k.a.
- The Viral Factor
- Year
- 2012
- Runtime
- 122 min.
- Director
- Dante Lam
- Genres
- Action, Drama, Thriller
- Rating *
- 6.0
- Votes *
- 1,866
- Checks
- 68
- Favs
- 0
- Dislikes
- 2
- Favs/checks
- 0.0% (0:68)
- Favs/dislikes
- 0:2
Top comments
-
Siskoid
Dante Lam's The Viral Factor is another atypical action film from Asia, also featuring brothers on opposite sides of the law (Jay Chou and Nicholas Tse). It's atypical because it looks like a big Hollywood blockbuster in the tradition of The Bourne Identity. Usually, Hong Kong action films take place in Hong Kong, maybe Thailand, and while the action is slick and the characters involving, you come to recognize the locations from film to film. The Viral Factor (Uphill Battle in the Chinese original) mostly takes place in Malaysia... and Jordan! Wall-to-wall action in a heightened by realistic mold (i.e. no wire work), with both gunplay and martial/stunt prowess, it has an international thriller plot about weaponized smallpox, a balanced mix of Chinese and English dialog, and a strong emotional core despite being very nearly wall-to-wall action. I think it'll play well to Western audiences, though I also wonder how memorable it'll be in the end because it looks like a lot of similar American flicks. 8 years 10 months ago