Movie Box Review

Image Courtesy of Anchor Bay Entertainment

Dir: William Kaufman (The Prodigy, The Hit List)
Cast: Johnny Strong, Kevin Phillips, Costas Mandylor, Louis Mandylor, Sean Patrick Flanery, Clifford "Method Man" Smith, Kit Coates, Bas Rutten, Tom Berenger, Jürgen Prochnow, Bas Rutten, Jolene Blalock
USA, 2012 (DVD Release)

Reason to see: Heard great things about it & I'm always up for a good action film.

Sinners and Saints takes on the tried and true action themes of cops, criminals the mystery of what keeps them apart and brings them together, along with challenge of or camaraderie between partners as well as drive, vengeance and a dash of sorrow. Although those are all things that are fun to watch, what really reeled me in what where it choose to stand apart and in that sense I thought it was a really gutsy action films on several levels. Sinners and Saints pushed the boundaries of intensity and ideas when it came to the brutality, which may not be my favourite thing personally, but it was a choice that work for the film. I loved how it went with a more realistic with work relationships with the cops, instead of over-the-top antagonism, conflict and shouting matches between character but rather when for respect, active listening and letting people do their work. I didn't realized how often I had come to expect to see disagreements, fighting, handing in the badge, etc. in cop films which made this a refreshing change of pace. There was way more enough conflict to go around to give us a bit of a breather and not have it at the cop shop.

In terms of the action, Sinners and Saints is volatile, explosive and doesn't hold back. You could feel the heat and intensity of the New Orleans setting that serves as an urban war zone of destruction. If you are a fan of gun fights heavy action films, this is definitely one for you as there are lots of bullets flying around and is pretty bloody to boot. We also get some nice car action and fighting scenes too, which I quite enjoyed and many involve the extensive supporting cast full of many familiar faces to enjoy. It leans very heavy on the brutal side of things, especially where torture is involved, so keep that in mind if it's not what you normally go for. But, what drew me in and kept me in was the fantastic and understated performance of Johnny Strong as Sean, I seriously want to see more of him. He completely held the film together and provided not only a believable physical performance but also gave us a character with a strong emotional resonance of someone who has gone through a very trying time. I'm mystified that we haven't seen more of him, but I hope we get to see much more of him in the future.

Warning: Torture

DVD Extras:

• Sinners and Saints Behind-the-Scenes (3 minutes) behind the scenes, prop training, rehearsal of gun work & fight choreography of action sequences and film clips. Heavy focus on the action here with lots of footage of the guns fights, chase sequences and car stunt scenes.
• Deleted Scenes (7 scenes, 7 minutes) scenes establishing Ganz family life and Sean connecting to their family, increasing tension scenes between both the cops and criminals, and a few scenes that are bookends between action-centric scenes.
  

Sinners and Saints is available on DVD as of January 10, 2012. Check it out over at Amazon.ca & Amazon.com

Shannon's Overall View:
I really enjoyed it
I'll watch it again
I strongly recommend it fans of harsh action films

Return to Film Reviews or see more DVD Reviews

© Shannon Ridler, 2012

Image Courtesy of Anchor Bay Entertainment

Dir: William Kaufman (The Prodigy, The Hit List)
Cast: Johnny Strong, Kevin Phillips, Costas Mandylor, Louis Mandylor, Sean Patrick Flanery, Clifford "Method Man" Smith, Kit Coates, Bas Rutten, Tom Berenger, Jürgen Prochnow, Bas Rutten, Jolene Blalock
USA, 2012 (DVD Release)

Reason to see: Heard great things about it & I'm always up for a good action film.

Sinners and Saints takes on the tried and true action themes of cops, criminals the mystery of what keeps them apart and brings them together, along with challenge of or camaraderie between partners as well as drive, vengeance and a dash of sorrow. Although those are all things that are fun to watch, what really reeled me in what where it choose to stand apart and in that sense I thought it was a really gutsy action films on several levels. Sinners and Saints pushed the boundaries of intensity and ideas when it came to the brutality, which may not be my favourite thing personally, but it was a choice that work for the film. I loved how it went with a more realistic with work relationships with the cops, instead of over-the-top antagonism, conflict and shouting matches between character but rather when for respect, active listening and letting people do their work. I didn't realized how often I had come to expect to see disagreements, fighting, handing in the badge, etc. in cop films which made this a refreshing change of pace. There was way more enough conflict to go around to give us a bit of a breather and not have it at the cop shop.

In terms of the action, Sinners and Saints is volatile, explosive and doesn't hold back. You could feel the heat and intensity of the New Orleans setting that serves as an urban war zone of destruction. If you are a fan of gun fights heavy action films, this is definitely one for you as there are lots of bullets flying around and is pretty bloody to boot. We also get some nice car action and fighting scenes too, which I quite enjoyed and many involve the extensive supporting cast full of many familiar faces to enjoy. It leans very heavy on the brutal side of things, especially where torture is involved, so keep that in mind if it's not what you normally go for. But, what drew me in and kept me in was the fantastic and understated performance of Johnny Strong as Sean, I seriously want to see more of him. He completely held the film together and provided not only a believable physical performance but also gave us a character with a strong emotional resonance of someone who has gone through a very trying time. I'm mystified that we haven't seen more of him, but I hope we get to see much more of him in the future.

Warning: Torture

DVD Extras:

• Sinners and Saints Behind-the-Scenes (3 minutes) behind the scenes, prop training, rehearsal of gun work & fight choreography of action sequences and film clips. Heavy focus on the action here with lots of footage of the guns fights, chase sequences and car stunt scenes.
• Deleted Scenes (7 scenes, 7 minutes) scenes establishing Ganz family life and Sean connecting to their family, increasing tension scenes between both the cops and criminals, and a few scenes that are bookends between action-centric scenes.
  

Sinners and Saints is available on DVD as of January 10, 2012. Check it out over at Amazon.ca & Amazon.com

Shannon's Overall View:
I really enjoyed it
I'll watch it again
I strongly recommend it fans of harsh action films

Return to Film Reviews or see more DVD Reviews

© Shannon Ridler, 2012

Dir: Steven Soderbergh (Solaris, Oceans 11, The Girlfriend Experience)
Cast: Gina Carano, Michael Douglas, Ewan McGregor, Channing Tatum, Michael Fassbender, Antonio Banderas, Bill Paxton
USA/Ireland, 2012

Seen: January 25, 2012 at the Rainbow

Reason to see: Female protagonist action films are always on my to see list

Haywire stars Mixed Martial Artist Gina Carano, and is directed by Steven Soderbergh which I miraculously kind of forgot about before going in because all I really needed was an MMA star in a film to pull me to see it. But Soderbergh directed Oceans 11, 12, 13, the Solaris remake and The Girlfriend Experience, and it’s no doubt he is a very stylish director which you could really feel that in the film. The pacing and the storytelling style were very different than I was expecting; a lot of action films go for a very high-paced style but Haywire feels much more like a drama, with action. It feels like an American espionage drama with action and a female protagonist as opposed to an action film. Although the action is fantastic and Gina Cararo is amazing and certainly will be a draw to the film, the most important part of the film which is her character journey and the story which has some welcome mystery elements to it.

I do wonder if some people will think the pacing is too slow, and I found myself spending time while watching literally interpreting and experiencing the film from the perspective of the fact that it wasn’t what I was expected. But, once I settled into realizing what they were going with and just relaxed into it, I really enjoyed it and I particularly enjoyed that it has a slow burn with a lot of visual storytelling. We get to watch Mallory (Gina Cararo), as she herself is watching, interpreting and reacting to what is going on around her in a very visual manner. I was very impressed by this, the completely visual storytelling that was accompanied by a groovy soundtrack were a huge highlight of the film and something sets it apart from many current-day action films proving that you don’t have to shock & scare us with stuff to entertain us, you can also appeal to our logical minds as we try to piece together the puzzles, be they ones of action or espionage. It was very impressive.

It was fantastic to see Gina Cararo was so good in this role as an action star, so much so that it actually pushes buttons and boundaries of things that we don’t normally see; for example if she is fighting a guy in the film – they are really going all out at each other. She’s not treated differently and she’s certainly not treated lightly, she’ll get thrown around just as much as anyone else who is in an action film. It’s literally a new primer when there dynamics of the fight aren’t re-adjusted to balance for any strengths or weaknesses of either fighter; they are treated as equals. Although theoretically I cheered and the balance, it took a while to adjust to seeing that. They did also call out on some action film tropes to be a more clear counter-reaction to what we often see gender wise, that didn’t work in the film quite a smoothly as the action balance did, but considering it’s such a new shift I think its’ entirely fair to expect some growing pains. To be honest, I’m happy to take those growing pains if the counter is seeing an amazing, capable, and believable action star. And that is exactly what we got: Gina Cararo is amazing, capable, believable and very dynamic action star and I look forward to seeing her in more films in the future. The story was good too, and I was impressed I could keep up considering espionage can be a bit of challenge for me but I suspect seeing it in open captioning help (see more on the experience of open captioning here).

Overall, the action, score and tone were all amazing plus I enjoyed the story as well. But Gina really was the pull to the film, and she pulled me right in and kept me for the entire time.

I would definitely recommend it to action, espionage and mystery film fans and especial to fans of female protagonist films.

It was very exciting that January 20, 2012, had not only one but two action films with female protagonists that opened here in Toronto. I decided not to choose between them therefore I saw both Haywire & Underworld Awakening.

Shannon's Overall View:
I enjoyed it
I can't wait to watch it again
I'd highly recommend it to fans of action films & female protagonist films

Also see my review of Haywire on Episode 59 of the Movie Moxie Podcast:


© Shannon Ridler, 2012

Dir: Steven Soderbergh (Solaris, Oceans 11, The Girlfriend Experience)
Cast: Gina Carano, Michael Douglas, Ewan McGregor, Channing Tatum, Michael Fassbender, Antonio Banderas, Bill Paxton
USA/Ireland, 2012

Seen: January 25, 2012 at the Rainbow

Reason to see: Female protagonist action films are always on my to see list

Haywire stars Mixed Martial Artist Gina Carano, and is directed by Steven Soderbergh which I miraculously kind of forgot about before going in because all I really needed was an MMA star in a film to pull me to see it. But Soderbergh directed Oceans 11, 12, 13, the Solaris remake and The Girlfriend Experience, and it’s no doubt he is a very stylish director which you could really feel that in the film. The pacing and the storytelling style were very different than I was expecting; a lot of action films go for a very high-paced style but Haywire feels much more like a drama, with action. It feels like an American espionage drama with action and a female protagonist as opposed to an action film. Although the action is fantastic and Gina Cararo is amazing and certainly will be a draw to the film, the most important part of the film which is her character journey and the story which has some welcome mystery elements to it.

I do wonder if some people will think the pacing is too slow, and I found myself spending time while watching literally interpreting and experiencing the film from the perspective of the fact that it wasn’t what I was expected. But, once I settled into realizing what they were going with and just relaxed into it, I really enjoyed it and I particularly enjoyed that it has a slow burn with a lot of visual storytelling. We get to watch Mallory (Gina Cararo), as she herself is watching, interpreting and reacting to what is going on around her in a very visual manner. I was very impressed by this, the completely visual storytelling that was accompanied by a groovy soundtrack were a huge highlight of the film and something sets it apart from many current-day action films proving that you don’t have to shock & scare us with stuff to entertain us, you can also appeal to our logical minds as we try to piece together the puzzles, be they ones of action or espionage. It was very impressive.

It was fantastic to see Gina Cararo was so good in this role as an action star, so much so that it actually pushes buttons and boundaries of things that we don’t normally see; for example if she is fighting a guy in the film – they are really going all out at each other. She’s not treated differently and she’s certainly not treated lightly, she’ll get thrown around just as much as anyone else who is in an action film. It’s literally a new primer when there dynamics of the fight aren’t re-adjusted to balance for any strengths or weaknesses of either fighter; they are treated as equals. Although theoretically I cheered and the balance, it took a while to adjust to seeing that. They did also call out on some action film tropes to be a more clear counter-reaction to what we often see gender wise, that didn’t work in the film quite a smoothly as the action balance did, but considering it’s such a new shift I think its’ entirely fair to expect some growing pains. To be honest, I’m happy to take those growing pains if the counter is seeing an amazing, capable, and believable action star. And that is exactly what we got: Gina Cararo is amazing, capable, believable and very dynamic action star and I look forward to seeing her in more films in the future. The story was good too, and I was impressed I could keep up considering espionage can be a bit of challenge for me but I suspect seeing it in open captioning help (see more on the experience of open captioning here).

Overall, the action, score and tone were all amazing plus I enjoyed the story as well. But Gina really was the pull to the film, and she pulled me right in and kept me for the entire time.

I would definitely recommend it to action, espionage and mystery film fans and especial to fans of female protagonist films.

It was very exciting that January 20, 2012, had not only one but two action films with female protagonists that opened here in Toronto. I decided not to choose between them therefore I saw both Haywire & Underworld Awakening.

Shannon's Overall View:
I enjoyed it
I can't wait to watch it again
I'd highly recommend it to fans of action films & female protagonist films

Also see my review of Haywire on Episode 59 of the Movie Moxie Podcast:


© Shannon Ridler, 2012

Dir: Måns Mårlind & Björn Stein (Shelter - podcast review)
Cast: Kate Beckinsale, Stephen Rea, Michael Ealy, Theo James, India Eisley, Charles Dance
USA, 2012

Seen: January 25, 2012 at the Rainbow

Reason to see: Selene, the vampire death-dealer protagonist, is one of my all-time favourite film characters and it's on My Most Anticipated Films for 2012

Underworld Awakening technically follows Underworld: Evolution chronologically in the series but if you aren’t overly familiar or haven’t revisited the series recently they do help with a little memory jogger, which is the lead into the current world where humans were not only made aware of the vampire and lycans existence, but also defeated them in a ‘cleansing’ leaving the remaining numbers very small. I found that a bit of a challenge to buy into, that the humans would prevail, but that’s the world they create so you kind of have to go there to experience the film. In this near future world we travel with death dealer vampire Selene (Kate Beckinsale) who awakens after the said ‘cleansing’.

A brief personal history of how I weight in on the Underworld series is that I absolutely adored the highly stylish full-tilt vampires vs lycans (werewolves) action film that was the original Underworld, but was completely dismayed by some random gender crap in the sequel Underworld: Evolution that made me hate the film, which is a statement I don’t make very often. And then I flipped back to enjoying the series with the prequel Underworld: Rise of the Lycans which features Michael Sheen and was the only film in the series without Kate Beckinsale. So, personally I’ve had a bit of a rocky relationship with the series but I can’t help but the gorgeous stylings, amazing action and cool vampire & werewolves throughout.

In terms of the action and art direction of how the film it looks and feels, I loved it. It’s a little dingier than the original film so you have to take that into account as it aligns with this whole living on the fringes with low resources which doesn’t really read ‘vampire’ to me, but it is something new. I really enjoyed seeing a lot of the actors in the film including Theo James (‘Bedlam’), Charles Dance (Aliens 3) and Kris Holden-Reid (‘Lost Girl’) who I really think they could have had more in the film. Plus, to make sure it doesn’t go without saying, Kate Beckinsale was fantastic to see, I love her as Selene a fierce and beautiful death dealer who kicked a whole lot of butt in the film and makes no qualms about the fact that she is completely in charge.

I was pretty surprized to see that it was only 88 minutes with around 10 of those being credits, but I still felt like I got 1-films worth of enjoyment for the film. The story and world may not have been perfectly what I was looking forward but they stayed true to what they created and I respect that. In terms of the series I’d still say the first one is my favourite, and then Underworld: Rise of the Lycans, then Underworld Awakening and finally Underworld: Evolution. It was one of my most anticipated films of the year so I was excited and looking for a bit more than what we got here, but I certainly was entertained and engaged while watching.

In terms of the story, I took me for a bit of a surprized that I don’t think the themes will appeal to everyone; but it also feels like it’s one of many periods within this world and therefore we’ll have more to enjoy to come. However, for supernatural action fans this is a total fun ride with lots of action, and interesting story and continuing the journey through the cool world they have created so for that I do think it’s a success.

Underworld Awakening opened in Toronto on January 20, 2012, and it was excited to see not just one but two action films with female protagonists released on that date with both Haywire & Underworld Awakening. I saw ‘em both. Good times.

Shannon's Overall View:
I enjoyed it
I'll buy it
I'd recommend it to fans of the series & vampire/action film fans

See also a spoiler-filled awesome discussion of the film over at Before the Dawn and a spoiler-ree review on Episode 59 of the Movie Moxie Podcast:


© Shannon Ridler, 2012

Dir: Måns Mårlind & Björn Stein (Shelter - podcast review)
Cast: Kate Beckinsale, Stephen Rea, Michael Ealy, Theo James, India Eisley, Charles Dance
USA, 2012

Seen: January 25, 2012 at the Rainbow

Reason to see: Selene, the vampire death-dealer protagonist, is one of my all-time favourite film characters and it's on My Most Anticipated Films for 2012

Underworld Awakening technically follows Underworld: Evolution chronologically in the series but if you aren’t overly familiar or haven’t revisited the series recently they do help with a little memory jogger, which is the lead into the current world where humans were not only made aware of the vampire and lycans existence, but also defeated them in a ‘cleansing’ leaving the remaining numbers very small. I found that a bit of a challenge to buy into, that the humans would prevail, but that’s the world they create so you kind of have to go there to experience the film. In this near future world we travel with death dealer vampire Selene (Kate Beckinsale) who awakens after the said ‘cleansing’.

A brief personal history of how I weight in on the Underworld series is that I absolutely adored the highly stylish full-tilt vampires vs lycans (werewolves) action film that was the original Underworld, but was completely dismayed by some random gender crap in the sequel Underworld: Evolution that made me hate the film, which is a statement I don’t make very often. And then I flipped back to enjoying the series with the prequel Underworld: Rise of the Lycans which features Michael Sheen and was the only film in the series without Kate Beckinsale. So, personally I’ve had a bit of a rocky relationship with the series but I can’t help but the gorgeous stylings, amazing action and cool vampire & werewolves throughout.

In terms of the action and art direction of how the film it looks and feels, I loved it. It’s a little dingier than the original film so you have to take that into account as it aligns with this whole living on the fringes with low resources which doesn’t really read ‘vampire’ to me, but it is something new. I really enjoyed seeing a lot of the actors in the film including Theo James (‘Bedlam’), Charles Dance (Aliens 3) and Kris Holden-Reid (‘Lost Girl’) who I really think they could have had more in the film. Plus, to make sure it doesn’t go without saying, Kate Beckinsale was fantastic to see, I love her as Selene a fierce and beautiful death dealer who kicked a whole lot of butt in the film and makes no qualms about the fact that she is completely in charge.

I was pretty surprized to see that it was only 88 minutes with around 10 of those being credits, but I still felt like I got 1-films worth of enjoyment for the film. The story and world may not have been perfectly what I was looking forward but they stayed true to what they created and I respect that. In terms of the series I’d still say the first one is my favourite, and then Underworld: Rise of the Lycans, then Underworld Awakening and finally Underworld: Evolution. It was one of my most anticipated films of the year so I was excited and looking for a bit more than what we got here, but I certainly was entertained and engaged while watching.

In terms of the story, I took me for a bit of a surprized that I don’t think the themes will appeal to everyone; but it also feels like it’s one of many periods within this world and therefore we’ll have more to enjoy to come. However, for supernatural action fans this is a total fun ride with lots of action, and interesting story and continuing the journey through the cool world they have created so for that I do think it’s a success.

Underworld Awakening opened in Toronto on January 20, 2012, and it was excited to see not just one but two action films with female protagonists released on that date with both Haywire & Underworld Awakening. I saw ‘em both. Good times.

Shannon's Overall View:
I enjoyed it
I'll buy it
I'd recommend it to fans of the series & vampire/action film fans

See also a spoiler-filled awesome discussion of the film over at Before the Dawn and a spoiler-ree review on Episode 59 of the Movie Moxie Podcast:


© Shannon Ridler, 2012

Writer/Dir: Dante Lam (Fire of Conscience, Beast Cops)
Cast: Jay Chou, Nicholas Tse
Hong Kong, 2012

Seen: January 28, 2012

Reason to see: Hong Kong action films are always a yes!

This film is from Dante Lam and when I original heard the name it sounded familiar, and it turns out that it’s the same director as Beast Cops which was a film I had on my second 100 Film in 100 Days Challenge, but sadly one I didn’t get to because I just didn’t have much access to. Now, I feel like I’m rekindling the connect by getting to see The Viral Factor! The film is am action crime-centric thriller with an espionage-ish feel spanning multiple countries, that is what makes it feel technically like an espionage film, although I don’t think there was much actual spying going on.

The Viral Factor stars Jay Chou (The Green Hornet) and Nicholas Tse as two men on the separate sides of the law, but both fighting for the just cause of doing the best they can for their families. I went to see it during a morning screening, and I think just about everyone in front of me was also going to see it which was great to see because it wasn’t opening weekend so for the time the crowd was pretty good! The acting was pretty solid, although I do suspect one of the baddie characters has their part voiced-over for the English lines, although I was surprized that some of it was actually in English – something I didn’t expect for in a Hong Kong action thriller. The story was also different than I was expecting, as the plot had an international political theme even though at heart it was really an action film that had the bonus of character-driven drama providing quite an engaging combination.

I really enjoyed the action in the film, particularly the action sequences in confined spaces that read extremely well. I find sometimes when there is a running theme or specialty in an action film where the go back to and re-emphasize a particularly look or feel it can get tired, but not here as it was fresh, fast and furious especially in those close quarters. I really appreciated that you could really see what was going on in the action sequences too, it was cutting and clear. It was pretty brutal though and the story was brutal too, including a very emotion theme that totally hit me out of left field and even made me cry. Who knew there would be some sweet emotional moments? The audience didn’t seem to expect that either and I heard some rumblings during the emotional scenes in the film. From that I found it really presented an interesting viewpoint of how different circumstances can affect people differently, and how that can change the path or course of someone’s life, which was an interesting layer to add to what could have been a straight-up action thriller.

I thought it was good, I enjoyed it and I was really happy to get a chance to see it – it was only released in Hong Kong itself this year and we’ve already had the opportunity to see it here in Toronto which is fantastic. If you are looking for an action film with a strong character driven elements as well, definitely check out The Viral Factor.

The Viral Factor opened on January 20, 2012 in Toronto at the AMC Yonge & Dundas.

Shannon's Overall View:
I enjoyed it
I'll watch it again
I'd recommend it to action and crime film fans

Also see my review of The Viral Factor on Episode 60 of the Movie Moxie Podcast:


© Shannon Ridler, 2012

Writer/Dir: Dante Lam (Fire of Conscience, Beast Cops)
Cast: Jay Chou, Nicholas Tse
Hong Kong, 2012

Seen: January 28, 2012

Reason to see: Hong Kong action films are always a yes!

This film is from Dante Lam and when I original heard the name it sounded familiar, and it turns out that it’s the same director as Beast Cops which was a film I had on my second 100 Film in 100 Days Challenge, but sadly one I didn’t get to because I just didn’t have much access to. Now, I feel like I’m rekindling the connect by getting to see The Viral Factor! The film is am action crime-centric thriller with an espionage-ish feel spanning multiple countries, that is what makes it feel technically like an espionage film, although I don’t think there was much actual spying going on.

The Viral Factor stars Jay Chou (The Green Hornet) and Nicholas Tse as two men on the separate sides of the law, but both fighting for the just cause of doing the best they can for their families. I went to see it during a morning screening, and I think just about everyone in front of me was also going to see it which was great to see because it wasn’t opening weekend so for the time the crowd was pretty good! The acting was pretty solid, although I do suspect one of the baddie characters has their part voiced-over for the English lines, although I was surprized that some of it was actually in English – something I didn’t expect for in a Hong Kong action thriller. The story was also different than I was expecting, as the plot had an international political theme even though at heart it was really an action film that had the bonus of character-driven drama providing quite an engaging combination.

I really enjoyed the action in the film, particularly the action sequences in confined spaces that read extremely well. I find sometimes when there is a running theme or specialty in an action film where the go back to and re-emphasize a particularly look or feel it can get tired, but not here as it was fresh, fast and furious especially in those close quarters. I really appreciated that you could really see what was going on in the action sequences too, it was cutting and clear. It was pretty brutal though and the story was brutal too, including a very emotion theme that totally hit me out of left field and even made me cry. Who knew there would be some sweet emotional moments? The audience didn’t seem to expect that either and I heard some rumblings during the emotional scenes in the film. From that I found it really presented an interesting viewpoint of how different circumstances can affect people differently, and how that can change the path or course of someone’s life, which was an interesting layer to add to what could have been a straight-up action thriller.

I thought it was good, I enjoyed it and I was really happy to get a chance to see it – it was only released in Hong Kong itself this year and we’ve already had the opportunity to see it here in Toronto which is fantastic. If you are looking for an action film with a strong character driven elements as well, definitely check out The Viral Factor.

The Viral Factor opened on January 20, 2012 in Toronto at the AMC Yonge & Dundas.

Shannon's Overall View:
I enjoyed it
I'll watch it again
I'd recommend it to action and crime film fans

Also see my review of The Viral Factor on Episode 60 of the Movie Moxie Podcast:


© Shannon Ridler, 2012

I've tried to hold back chatting about 2012 films yet because I'm still in wrap-up mode for 2011 but I can't help but be excited for The Expendables 2. I loved The Expendables from 2010 and I really enjoyed how it capture the awesomeness of action films, had a great cast and fantastic fights.

I'm totally ready for that to happen again, and lots of the cast is back for more including Sylvester Stallone, Jason Statham, Jet Li, Dolph Lundgren, Randy Couture and Terry Crews; plus new to the line up is Liam Hemsworth (The Hunger Games), Jean-Claude Van Damme (JCVD), Yu Nan and Chuck Norris and it will be directed by Simon West (The Mechanic). It's going to be epic.

Let's take a look and an updated synopsis of the film

"The Expendables are back and this time it's personal...Barney Ross (Sylvester Stallone), Lee Christmas (Jason Statham), Yin Yang (Jet Li), Gunnar Jensen (Dolph Lundgren),Toll Road (Randy Couture) and Hale Caesar (Terry Crews) -- with newest members Billy the Kid (Liam Hemsworth) and Maggie (Yu Nan) aboard -- are reunited when Mr. Church (Bruce Willis) enlists the Expendables to take on a seemingly simple job. The task looks like an easy paycheck for Barney and his band of old-school mercenaries. But when things go wrong and one of their own is viciously killed, the Expendables are compelled to seek revenge in hostile territory where the odds are stacked against them. Hell-bent on payback, the crew cuts a swath of destruction through opposing forces, wreaking havoc and shutting down an unexpected threat in the nick of time - six pounds of weapons-grade plutonium; enough to change the balance of power in the world. But that's nothing compared to the justice they serve against the villainous adversary who savagely murdered their brother."

See more at the Official Website, IMDb Page, Facebook Page and of course The Expendables 2 Trailer (below):

I've tried to hold back chatting about 2012 films yet because I'm still in wrap-up mode for 2011 but I can't help but be excited for The Expendables 2. I loved The Expendables from 2010 and I really enjoyed how it capture the awesomeness of action films, had a great cast and fantastic fights.

I'm totally ready for that to happen again, and lots of the cast is back for more including Sylvester Stallone, Jason Statham, Jet Li, Dolph Lundgren, Randy Couture and Terry Crews; plus new to the line up is Liam Hemsworth (The Hunger Games), Jean-Claude Van Damme (JCVD), Yu Nan and Chuck Norris and it will be directed by Simon West (The Mechanic). It's going to be epic.

Let's take a look and an updated synopsis of the film

"The Expendables are back and this time it's personal...Barney Ross (Sylvester Stallone), Lee Christmas (Jason Statham), Yin Yang (Jet Li), Gunnar Jensen (Dolph Lundgren),Toll Road (Randy Couture) and Hale Caesar (Terry Crews) -- with newest members Billy the Kid (Liam Hemsworth) and Maggie (Yu Nan) aboard -- are reunited when Mr. Church (Bruce Willis) enlists the Expendables to take on a seemingly simple job. The task looks like an easy paycheck for Barney and his band of old-school mercenaries. But when things go wrong and one of their own is viciously killed, the Expendables are compelled to seek revenge in hostile territory where the odds are stacked against them. Hell-bent on payback, the crew cuts a swath of destruction through opposing forces, wreaking havoc and shutting down an unexpected threat in the nick of time - six pounds of weapons-grade plutonium; enough to change the balance of power in the world. But that's nothing compared to the justice they serve against the villainous adversary who savagely murdered their brother."

See more at the Official Website, IMDb Page, Facebook Page and of course The Expendables 2 Trailer (below):