Sunday, January 22, 2012

Viral Factor (2012) Movie

I have watched a lot of movies between now and the last time I blogged about a movie. However, I have not been compelled to blog about any of them, good, mediocre or bad.

I do now. Here is the Slog's Review of Viral Factor: (scream!!!!) VIRAL FACTOR SUCK EGGS!

Okay, great I've got this out of my system. I foolishly noted an acquaintance's post about how great Viral Factor was and insisted my CEB and I watch it on Chinese New Year's Eve. Instead of Journey 2 (which was no great shakes but which I would have happily watched twice on hindsight).The movie is like a 150 year old vegetable that won’t just quit despite being senile, incapacitated and annoying. The characters in the movie are worse – they get shot with bullets, front, back, centre and side and yet can run with the best of them and kick the baddies’ ass.

The opening scenes were shot in Jordan but there were only Chinese actors/actresses which made the whole thing seem rather unrealistic. The good cop lead actor played by Jay Chou was part of a team tasked to protect a scientist who was able to make a deadly virus. His girlfriend called Ice (what a name) gets killed in the shootout and Jay’s character gets a bullet in the head. He is told he will die in 2 weeks/months. His character’s mother then chooses to disclose that he has a father and brother. I hate the mum’s character – she is incredibly full of self-pity and sheds endless tears at every scene when talking about the past or when embracing the present. The tears are all for herself of course…ugh. Ugh ugh. Okay, so Jay takes an AirAsia plane (one would have thought he would fly by a better airline given his limited lifespan) to KL where his character’s dad and elder brother are. On board, he meets a doctor played by an actress who has been beat about the head with an ugly stick. She tells the pilot to fly at a lower altitude (is that even possible?) so that Jay’s headaches will ease. They part at the airport and incredibly, she just happens to be the one scientist that the baddies target to kidnap and work on the virus because the scientist got killed running away. Oh yes, a huge part of the movie is shot in Malaysia of all places (one is treated to repeated scenes of the twin towers ugh). Jay sees her being kidnapped and saves her from his bad ass elder brother.

In the evening, he susses out his good for nothing gambler of a father and what do you know, the first time he finds his father, the father is being pummeled for failure to pay his debts. What a family reunion. At this point of the movie, I find myself feeling genuinely sorry for Jay. He has been given short and bad lines which he delivers in a stilted stuffed monotonous voice. And sorry for his character too. With a mother like that and a father…and a bullet in the head. He gets the second prize pity ticket. He founds out he his a niece who is the only likable character in the movie. Nicholas Tse isn’t too bad either – he gets the first prize pity ticket because of the troubles in his personal life. Good acting despite the lousy script and lines.

I’m not going to waste anymore time reviewing the movie except that it is predicable. Jay with the bullet in his head sacrifices his life for the brother when they take down the baddie. The little girl gets saved and is reunited with the grandmother (the most annoying character who of course cries tears of self pity and stupidly asks for Jay – I mean, come on, how could she not have known). Nicholas’s character does time of course and the baddies are all killed by the superbionic brothers.

This has to be one of the worst movies ever.

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