Member mark187 Posted July 28, 2011 Member Share Posted July 28, 2011 http://twitchfilm.com/news/2011/07/first-teaser-for-dante-lams-the-viral-factor-goes-boom.php First teaser/trailer for Dante Lam's The Viral Factor up at Twitch. apparently the release date is now Lunar New Year 2012, late Jan. looks like Dante Lam is continuing his hot streak with this one Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member mark187 Posted October 7, 2011 Author Member Share Posted October 7, 2011 http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=dVp4Mg-ErM0 new trailer Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member DiP Posted October 9, 2011 Member Share Posted October 9, 2011 Looks alright. The day we will see a new Dante Lam film surpassing Beast Cops may well be gone. The Beast Stalker was a step in the right direction but went down from there imo. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member Ramji Posted October 9, 2011 Member Share Posted October 9, 2011 Looks alright. The day we will see a new Dante Lam film surpassing Beast Cops may well be gone. The Beast Stalker was a step in the right direction but went down from there imo. I really liked Beast Stalker, Fire of Conscience was ok but I thought The Stool Pigeon was excellent, my favourite of the three I think. A bit OTT but I got really into that film. Only watched once however. Trailer looks interesting, slightly wary of the international setting in places and it looks REALLY OTT haha. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member DiP Posted October 9, 2011 Member Share Posted October 9, 2011 Stylistically, this looks like Hit Team and The Sniper mixed up. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member mark187 Posted October 9, 2011 Author Member Share Posted October 9, 2011 Ramji, I agree with you 100% about The Stool Pigeon. The Viral Factor looks like it will certainly deliver on the action, and nowadays not many HK filmmakers are making these types of modern day action films anymore, so this is something to look forward to. besides, Dante Lam has been on a hot streak, more or less, these past few years. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member AndyWayne84 Posted October 9, 2011 Member Share Posted October 9, 2011 I'm a huge fan of Nicholas Tse and Jay Chou. After seeing the trailer of this flim i want to see it now, loved Beast Stalker and The Stool Pigeon. They were impressive flims i hope this one will be a good follow up to those flims for Nicholas he rocks. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member mark187 Posted November 28, 2011 Author Member Share Posted November 28, 2011 thanks to Tinlunlau from Filmsmash forums for working with China Lion, The Viral Factor will be playing in theaters in North America in January 2012. hopefully it'll be more than just NY/LA! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member mark187 Posted December 4, 2011 Author Member Share Posted December 4, 2011 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vnf4-luNT2E 3rd trailer, looks even better than before! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member mark187 Posted January 13, 2012 Author Member Share Posted January 13, 2012 http://moviexclusive.com/detail.php?c=128&desc=V&p=1172&t=the-viral-factor-2012_1172 first review up, sounds like it lives up to the hype! 4.5/5 from Moviexclusive! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member OpiumKungFuCracker Posted January 20, 2012 Member Share Posted January 20, 2012 One of the Twitch writers just busted a nut over this movie... thanks to Mark187 for addressing this, I will be seeing it in Houston over the weekend... http://twitchfilm.com/reviews/2012/01/review-the-viral-factor-is-explosively-infectious.php Review: THE VIRAL FACTOR is explosively infectious It's official: Hong Kong can no longer contain Dante Lam. The director has worked slavishly over the past decade, through a career of slapstick comedies and thankless pop star vehicles, to establish himself as the city's premier orchestrator of high-octane action. Lam's latest offering boasts his largest budget to-date, reported to be in excess of US$25 million, and explodes across Asia from Jordan to Beijing to the sweat-drenched streets of Kuala Lumpur. Regular collaborator Nicolas Tse goes toe-to-toe with Taiwanese pop icon Jay Chou as estranged brothers, who find themselves on opposite sides of the law during an international terror alert involving a deadly virus. As they struggle to reconnect, not only with each other, but with the parents who separated them at a young age, the bullets, blood and balls of flame continue to keep them apart. It is clear from the film's opening moments on the dusty streets of Jordan that plot will be taking a backseat to an almost relentless barrage of shootouts, chases and fistfights for close to all 120 minutes of the film's running time. What we are able to piece together through the smoke and the gunshots is that Jon Man (Jay Chou) is part of an Interpol Special Forces Unit charged with protecting a scientist responsible for creating a potentially lethal mutant virus. As they are about to whisk him off to safety, they are double-crossed by teammate Sean (Andy On), who kidnaps the scientist and leaves Jon with a bullet lodged in his brain. An outbreak of the virus on a container ship leads the authorities to Malaysia, where career criminal Man Cheung (Nic Tse) escapes from his court hearing and has soon joined forces with Sean. Refusing medical attention, Jon tracks down his crippled father (Liu Kai Chi) for help, which in turn leads him to Cheung's daughter. It is only a matter of time before Cheung comes looking for his little girl and the two brothers come face to face for the first time in more than 20 years. Dante Lam has steadily been honing his skills as an action auteur, and in the past five years has composed bold, visceral action sequences, interspersed with tough dramatic narratives, almost always built around the classic heroic bloodshed mould of two equal yet opposing antiheroes. THE VIRAL FACTOR proves to be no exception, with spectacular scenes of mayhem and destruction on a scale no Hong Kong movie has ever seen, coupled with the ultimate yin/yang stand-off between brothers, both literal and spiritual. Lam delivers military ambushes on the streets of Jordan, an aerial chase involving three helicopters weaving through the skyscrapers of downtown Kuala Lumpur, as well as tightly choreographed punch-ups and shootouts to rival anything Hollywood can offer. As a result, the narrative does evaporate fairly early in proceedings, with the virus itself barely mentioned in the first hour of the film. Bai Bing's microbiologist seems to appear out of nowhere as and when the film requires her, which is also true of Jon's debilitating head wound. One minute he's punching ten bells out of his brother or jumping in and out of helicopters, the next he's writhing on the floor with a crippling migraine a hair's breadth from death's door. Throughout the film characterisation is underdeveloped, with nobody outside of the two principles enjoying any kind of narrative arc. We are given backstory to explain why their parents split up and how their father lost his leg, but never more than is absolutely necessary to keep things moving forward. Characters also use a variety of languages throughout the film, again adding to the broad international feel (and appeal) of the film. Andy On's turncoat operative, for example, speaks almost entirely in English - and the film should prove an effective calling card to an overseas audience largely unaware of his skills - only to inexplicably revert to Mandarin for one of his many conversations with Jay Chou. Elsewhere a combination of Cantonese and Mandarin are spoken, but again there are unexplained instances when characters switch language for no good reason. In the end none of this really matters, as Dante Lam clearly has little interest in anything other than cramming the screen with every cent of that $25 million. He didn't set out to make a delicate portrait of a fractured family in turmoil and he doesn't demand nuanced performances from his cast. Lam has proved with the likes of BEAST STALKER and THE STOOL PIGEON that he can lean towards weighty character dramas should the mood take him, but this time he's been given the big toys to play with and is free to make as much noise as possible. THE VIRAL FACTOR is big, loud and couldn't care less whether you think it's clever or not (and it most certainly isn't). What it delivers is two hours of guns, explosions, car crashes, helicopter chases, running, jumping, screaming, shouting and enough bullets, squibs and blood bags to make John Woo hang his head in shame. There is nobody in Hong Kong making action movies that comes anywhere close to displaying the scope, ambition, or deliciously deranged vision of Dante Lam. And the best news of all is that he's only just beginning to hit his stride. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moderator One Armed Boxer Posted January 28, 2012 Moderator Share Posted January 28, 2012 I got through watching this yesterday, and as all the previous reviews have pointed out, the glorious HK bullet ballets of old are indeed well and truly back with 'The Viral Factor' (aka 'Nicholas Tse kills 90% of Malaysia's Police Force')! Lam still provides two well fleshed out main characters in the capable hands of leads Jay Chou & Nicholas Tse, but within the first 15 minutes everyone will be pretty much aware that the first priority of this movie is to provide action, action, and more action. It's worth mentioning that those after martial arts scenes are coming to the wrong place, yes there's a few scuffles, including a brief knife fight with Andy On facing off against Jay Chou (which rather inexpiclably cuts away mid-fight and when it cuts back Chou is giving chase to On, go figure!)...but the main attraction here is the abundance of almost zero CGI assisted car chases, explosions, helicopters chases, more explosions, foot chases, falls, gun fights, buildings being obliterated, stabbings, glass being shattered, and all the other chaos that we know and love from the heroic bloodshed pics of yore. This is a movie to play with the volume up, as watching it in the cinema I was fixed with a permanent grin on my face while the sounds of shot gun blasts, machine guns rattling off round after round, rocket launchers obliterating buildings, and you name what else shook the room in a satisfyingly thunderous manner. The fact that a servicable plot is thrown on top of all these wonderous scenes of mayhem is just the icing on the cake. Carl Ng (son of Richard Ng) & Sammy Hung (son of Sammo) also show up in supporting roles providing a nice connection to the HK golden days, which is ironic considering none of the movie is actually set in HK...it hops between Jordan, Beijing, Colombia, & Malaysia...so has quite an international flavour, with as many dialects being spoken throughout the run time. Andy On also continues to prove he can handle action heavy roles with an increasing confidence, here pulling off bad guy duty as he did in 'True Legend', and all the action is being overseen by the most underrated guy in HK, Chin Kar Lok. Interestingly on some websites it lists Korean actors Lee Byung-hun & Jeong Wu-seong, of whom I'm a fan of both, as being in supporting roles. I'm pretty sure I didn't see either of them, but if anyone could confirm this it would be appreciated. All in all 'The Viral Factor' shows Dante Lam living up to his billing as HK's best action movie maker, which is how he's been touted for quite some time now, but for me this is the movie which seals the deal. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member OpiumKungFuCracker Posted January 28, 2012 Member Share Posted January 28, 2012 Nonstop Action, I love/love/love the beggining action scene in Jordan I believe?? Yeah I saw this movie at the best theater possible with state of the art sound equipment and it was rockin hard!!!! Best viewed on the big screen for sure.. Please be aware folks that this is not one of those artsy fartsy oscar Contender type movies but basely on just pure action and story and dialogue is something remembered from the Cannon 80's decade... Do not expect more, go into this movie with the lowest expectation possible and you will have a blast... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member OpiumKungFuCracker Posted January 28, 2012 Member Share Posted January 28, 2012 Also I'd like to put out that you will laugh unintentionally at some of the dramatic scene especially involving the Dad of the two brothers, lol.... I'm picking this one up on dvd for sure... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member mark187 Posted January 28, 2012 Author Member Share Posted January 28, 2012 Glad to hear you guys liked it! Hoping the wait for the DVD won't be too long, and it'll actually come out within the typical 2-month timeframe in HK, and not make the wait any longer! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member David Rees Posted March 9, 2012 Member Share Posted March 9, 2012 DVD and Blu Ray release date announced, March 29th. See Here at YES ASIA Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Administrator KUNG FU BOB Posted December 2, 2012 Administrator Share Posted December 2, 2012 This was a thread that I totally missed. When my bro Karlos generously sent me the region 1 Blu-Ray I had never even heard of the film. I saw Dante Lam's name listed as the director, and Nicholas Tse, Andy On and Jay Chou as the stars and knew it had to be at least decent. Turns out THE VIRAL FACTOR was very cool. It's kind of odd though. Unlike a lot of make-it-on-the-fly Hong Kong productions, this is exquisitely filmed- just gorgeous! The Blu-Ray format was made for films that look like this. The acting is outstanding, and the action had me literally gasping. There are so many well-built suspense and intense action sequences that you hardly get to catch your breath. But there were a few things stopping it from being a flat-out classic. At times it's a little hard to follow, as though the director took just a few key important lines from the script and threw them away to make it "more complex" or mysterious or something. It's especially odd because of the impressive, high level of film-making. But the same sort of thing happens with the action- just once or twice you're like "Am I supposed to know what just happened, or are they purposely making it vague?" Also, there was a bit too much coincidence and emotional family dramatics forced into an otherwise realistic script. Though this is typical of Hong Kong films, it felt out of place here. But despite these bits being overtly contrived, the acting, music, and the way they were filmed and directed still made them work. As the film was otherwise a powerhouse, I feel that these nagging bits stood out even more- in a frustrating way- as it was so close to being perfect... incredible... The action includes RPG warfare, gunfights, highway mayhem, chases, brief, brutal hand-to-hand (and blade and baseball bat) skirmishes, and a harrowing, nail-bitingly scary helicopter chase. Despite it's strange "sticks-out-like-a-sore-thumb" moments where the logic/plot/details go off the rails, this was an otherwise awesome film which I enjoyed tremendously. It was a good time, and I totally lost myself in the old Hong Kong magic and escaped from reality for it's running time. I'll definitely be re-watching this. The Blu-Ray release includes some special features I haven't checked out yet. Nice job Well-Go! 8 out of 10 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moderator One Armed Boxer Posted December 2, 2012 Moderator Share Posted December 2, 2012 Also, there was a bit too much coincidence and emotional family dramatics forced into an otherwise realistic script. Though this is typical of Hong Kong films, it felt out of place here. But despite these bits being overtly contrived, the acting, music, and the way they were filmed and directed still made them work. As the film was otherwise a powerhouse, I feel that these nagging bits stood out even more- in a frustrating way- as it was so close to being perfect Hey Bob....I think you really hit the nail on the head with this assessment. I posted my thoughts back in post 12 when I just got back from seeing it in the cinema, & was more than satisfied with the audio visual bombardment of action that 'The Viral Factor' brings on in spades. It was only on my second viewing when I watched it on DVD with a few friends who couldn't make it to the cinema with me that, as you mentioned, the rather glaring plot points suddenly stuck out more. It also tends to give the impression that Kuala Lumpur is about the size of 1 block, as every main character simply runs into each other by chance a little too frequently throughout the movie. Still, thankfully it still didn't overshadow the bombardment of action, definitely a must-own and a great return to form for HK action cinema. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member DrNgor Posted October 3, 2019 Member Share Posted October 3, 2019 I watched this for the first time last night--I had been meaning to for years, but just now got around to it. The movie is stuffed to the gills with action: gunfights, explosions, foot chases, car chases, helicopter chases and a smattering of hand-to-hand combat. It also follows the Hong Kong cinema rule that nobody is safe and that everybody can be thrust into danger and killed mercilessly, including children. Chin Kar-Lok and his team, including director Dante Lam, got a nomination for Best Action Choreography, but ultimately lost to Jackie Chan's CZ12. I wasn't bothered by the plot contrivances, of which there were many, although I think the film overlong and that several scenes were dragged out a bit too much for dramatic effect. I think it could've been shorn down by a good 10-15 minutes, especially during the second act, when the focus is on the characters getting away from the corrupt policemen. I think it could've been a bit snappier in some sequences. Good action film, although I'm not sure if it represent Chin Kar-Lok's best moment. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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