African filmmaking gets a jolt of Hollywood-style panache in this adrenaline-fueled Congolese action film, which energizes its vivid Kinshasa locales and social critiques with a raucous style. Brazen local hustler Riva aims high by taking on an Angolan gang (and seducing a rival crime lord's gal); soon he's living large, but he may not be living for long. A film of constant surprises, whether cinematic (tributes to film noirs and 1970s gangster films) or cultural (fascinating glimpses of Angolan/Congolese relations and Kinshasa gasoline shortages; a pounding African hip-hop soundtrack), Viva Riva! is indeed “a blast from start to finish” (Variety).