Meet Riva (the spectacular Patsha Bay), a man who thrives on scarcity: he smuggles gas, and has recently come upon a mother lode-which becomes, of course, a powder keg.

| Nov 7, 2013

A slick, exciting, well-made crime thriller, dripping with atmosphere.

| Original Score: 3.5/4 | Aug 18, 2011

| Original Score: 3/4 | Aug 12, 2011

A wild and seductive crime thriller, Viva Riva! is a promising early step for Congolese pulp cinema.

Full Review | Original Score: 3/5 | Aug 5, 2011

It feels so raw and urgent and real.

| Original Score: 3/4 | Aug 4, 2011

Pulsing with polyglot music and outlaw vigor, "Viva Riva!" is a raucous reply to the new world order.

| Original Score: 3/4 | Jul 21, 2011

"Viva Riva!" has its cake and eats it, too. Shoots it to pieces, actually.

| Original Score: 2.5/4 | Jul 7, 2011

Writer-director Djo Munga brings Kinshasa to rumbustious life, and should he devote the same attention to character and dialogue he may be a talent to reckon with.

| Original Score: 2/5 | Jul 1, 2011

Viva Riva! is exploitation cinema done right - it's got both feet planted in the here and now but its heart's bursting with the same lurid, filthy values that B-movies have embraced for decades.

| Original Score: 4/5 | Jun 25, 2011

Viva Riva! succeeds in being violent, erotic and often funny...

Full Review | Original Score: 4/5 | Jun 24, 2011

The titular exclamation point promises exuberant fun that the movie delivers only in spots.

| Original Score: 2/4 | Jun 23, 2011

Munga's screenplay rarely rises above the conventional, but he keeps things motoring nicely, and there's the smell of authenticity about the ramshackle locations he's chosen.

| Original Score: 3/5 | Jun 23, 2011

This insight into the aimless hedonism of young punks could be cutting, but the film doesn't dig beneath Riva's Jack-the-Lad charisma.

| Original Score: 3/5 | Jun 23, 2011

You'll need some patience to wrangle with this conflicted beast, but it's never dull.

| Original Score: 3/5 | Jun 22, 2011

On the basis of this expertly engineered crime thriller Djo Munga is a director going places.

| Original Score: 3/5 | Jun 20, 2011

This is just a gangster movie, but it has the edge of a unique time and place, and in a crowded summer movie market any edge will do.

Full Review | Original Score: 3/5 | Jun 17, 2011

Despite a nifty final twist and a willingness to dispense with a few taboos, it fails to establish a consistent rhythm.

Full Review | Original Score: 2.5/4 | Jun 16, 2011

Unfortunately, despite the sweaty, tense atmosphere, "Viva Riva" becomes derivative of the duller scenes in other gangster flicks.

| Original Score: 2/5 | Jun 10, 2011

A nastily effective, sociologically pungent genre piece...

| Original Score: 4/5 | Jun 9, 2011

The Congolese writer and director Djo Tunda Wa Munga gives Viva Riva! a playful sensuality that goes a long way toward disguising formula.

Full Review | Original Score: 3.5/5 | Jun 9, 2011