If you mashed together New Jack City, Scarface, Juice, Fresh and added a dash of Mad Max, it would nearly match the sound and fury of Riva Viva!
As a lifelong fan of blaxploitation and gangsta (as in Boyz In The Hood) flavoured movies, I was looking forward to this 'straight out of Kinshasa' film about hustlers, pimps and thieves and it delivered in spades.
Sure, the Viva Riva! plot is nonsense but the story is told in such a raw, unflinching and 'cranked up to 11' style, a wild and entertaining ride is guaranteed.
The film is centered around Viva, a charming, charismatic gangster, who steals a truck load of gasoline from Angolan crooks to sell in gas-deprived Kinshasa for fistfuls of cash. Trouble is, Cesar, the Angolan crime boss wants his petrol back, while local kingpin, Azor wants a piece of the action. Throw in Azor's stunningly beautiful girlfriend, Nora, a morally conflicted priest, a streetwise kid and a lesbian military officer and you have a crackerjack of a movie.
Word of warning, some of the violent scenes are hardcore, in some places, laughably over the top, but they just add to the film's visceral thrills and spills.
I shall wait for the remake with Colin Firth, Meryl Streep and the cast of The Inbetweeners movie. I do hope they get Guy Ritchie to direct.
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