The Viral Factor

Viral pandemic drama takes a backseat to fraternal fisticuffs and gunplay in The Viral Factor, an enjoyably sprawling if completely scatterbrained action movie from director Dante Lam, starring Jay Chou (above) and Nicholas Tse. A nervous tendency to flit to and fro between characters prevents the movie from successfully gaining much of an emotional foothold, and its two-hour running time renders vast swathes of its action theatrics redundant. But there’s still enough expressive investment in the two leads to mark The Viral Factor as a slightly stronger than average genre piece for foreign film fans. For the full, original review, from Screen International, click here. (China Lion/Emperor Motion Pictures, R, 122 minutes)