Virus

An ambitious Fukasaku film. It's rare to see a Japanese director pull off a global film project with local funds, but Fukasaku isn't your everyday director. His pandemic film is topical, though only during the first half. After that it turns into a post-apocalyptic affair that leaves little to the imagination.

A covert American research project toys with manipulated flu viruses. One of them is stolen and unleashed unto the world. The virus thrives in hotter condition, and before they fully well realize the scale of the problem, the human population is quickly dwindling. Only small settlement in Antarctica are safe from the deadly disease. The virus is just the start of humanity's problems though.

Fukasaku tries to put a little too much in a single film, but at least he is ambitious. The actors are somewhat flaky and the runtime's a bit excessive, the atmosphere is solid though and the finale is actually pretty impressive. It's a shame Fukasaku failed to make Virus feel just that little tighter, otherwise it would've been a pretty cool post-apocalyptic flick.