Os Quatro

I enjoy these sorts of exaggerated wuxia (superhuman/magic martial arts) movies, so anyone not into this genre might give it a significantly lower rating.

The primary problem with this movie is, due to the writing, directing, or editing I don't know, its nonsensically fast-paced timing; like it's in some kind of race to finish within its roughly two hour length. Without exaggeration, the pacing of the combat scenes in Michael Bay's first Transformers movie seem relaxed in comparison. A previous reviewer points out that after the first fight scene the action slows down, which is true, but only so much that you can at least make out who's fighting whom and what kind of attack they're using, but not so much that you ever get to really enjoy the combat until the final showdown at the end of the movie.

Like a bad Hollywood action flick, the story gets the same herky-jerky treatment; spending as little time as possible dealing with major plot elements or simply skipping ahead to the next scene altogether and leaving it up to the viewer to figure out in hindsight what must have transpired between scenes. For example, there's a love triangle which has to be pointed out in exposition by other characters because there is literally no time is allotted to developing any kind of relationship between these characters who are supposedly attracted to each other. Even the looks and comments of the trio can only be interpreted as attraction due to the observational comments others make.

Granted, this is a problem which seems to be increasingly creeping into many Chinese films in recent years, with romantic comedies devoid of romance and detective movies that gloss over the detective work, but whether that's a cultural change or if Chinese cinema is adopting the worst of Hollywood's bad habits in an unfortunate attempt to become more commercially viable, the end result is a movie with great promise that falls well short of the mark and ends up being just barely entertaining.

Thank God for Netflix because if I didn't have an account, I wouldn't have discovered an enjoyable movie. The negative reviews I read just make me roll my eyes and want to punch those users in the face with a bad of rice hahahaha.

Firstly, I'd like to say that it's obvious that different cultures have their own, unique way of telling stories through film. It's evident in America, Europe, Asia, India and more. I took the movie for what it was and enjoyed it very much. It was like X-Men meets Naruto Shippuden meets Dragon Ball Z. I personally love a light weight corny action film. No one watches for the story, we watch to see some dope fighters go at it and if they have superhuman abilities, it just adds more fuel to the fire.

I enjoyed the small twists and turns. The film kept me interested because I was constantly trying to figure out who was being loyal to whom. There were a lot of characters who appeared to be aligned with one side, then the next thing you know they are fighting for another side. It kept me wanting more. I especially loved seeing certain actors on the big screen again after seeing them give great performances in The Matrix and Forbidden Kingdom.

The set design was dope, the acting was cool. I doubt anyone expects an Oscar award winning acting performance in an action film. The costuming dope. Special effects dope and of course the action was amazing to watch from beginning to end.

Want my advice? Don't listen to the ridiculous and immature reviews below me. This movie embodies what the Asian film market enjoy and it works for them. I enjoyed it and would definitely watch it again.

There is a tradition in Chinese martial arts movies where people strong in "qi" power can jump around light as a feather, fight in treetops, and do other superhuman feats. (Example: Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon.) There is plenty of that in this movie, and additionally some characters seem to have special powers that other qi masters don't have, making this in some ways like a Western superhero comic story.

My favorite character was the girl who is stuck in a wheelchair, but whose qi powers are strong enough that she is far from useless in a fight. Her name is Yayu but her nickname is "Emotionless". Like Jedi in Star Wars movies can detect each other, she can also detect other nearby qi masters. Another IMDb user review speculates that she is simply a ripoff of two characters from X-Men, but I don't agree.

The movie has a confusing start, but if you stick with it the characters and plot sort themselves out. There is a shifty criminal in a city, and it turns out that three different groups have their eye on him: the police of "Department 6", the undercover police of "The Divine Constabulary", and some mysterious assassins. Additionally a bounty hunter is after him. The initial action is confusing, as it's not clear who is who. But stick with it, and the end of the movie pays off pretty well.

This movie also has a bit of a "steampunk" vibe, with unreasonably advanced clockwork mechanisms that might be partly qi-powered. For no obvious reason there is a giant clockwork crane that Emotionless uses to reach scrolls on the high shelves of a bookcase! And mid-way through the movie, Emotionless gets a nifty upgraded wheelchair that proves useful at the end of the movie.

At nearly two hours it runs a bit longer than necessary; I can think of a few cuts that would not have hurt. Still, I give this a 7 on the 10 scale. If you like fantasy martial- arts you might want to add a point to that! Also, I really liked the music.

Note: some plot threads are left unresolved, setting up for possible sequels, but this movie has a pretty satisfying ending.

Watching The Four is a depressing prospect, not only for the shameless grandstanding we are sure to witness from the wholesale theft of ideas that worked better elsewhere, but for the near-certainty that the movie will crumble into a mess under the unfortunately ham-fisted direction of Gordon Chan. By turns confused and clueless, The Four never really settles on an identity that it's comfortable with, resulting in parts that feel woefully out of place. At least Chan delivers an honest effort with the action but it's not worth the trouble.

The recent circulation of counterfeit money has landed the capital of the Song Dynasty in a predicament. The Department Six Constabulary and Divine Constabulary are sent to investigate but complications arise when the competing constabularies constantly get into each other's way. The Divine Constabulary is eventually suspended but spearheaded by the eponymous The Four, the constabulary continues to work on the case. It soon uncovers a more sinister plot to overthrow the government and must rush against time to stop the perpetrator before he plunges the dynasty into chaos.

Chan tries to put on a heady, feverish spin to this underlying material yet succeeds only in overwhelming it with unnecessary ideas that I suspect many of you would have trouble making sense of. From off the shelf romantic malarkey to flame-throwing mutants to jarringly misplaced zombies in settings that don't otherwise account for them, it seems fairly clear that Chan will steal from anywhere to build a brazen showpiece that feels more awkward than fulfilling. Unfortunately, he is nowhere near the wisdom that will make it all work and it shows in his unfocused direction where he demonstrates his inability at making smooth transitions. Don't get me wrong. I'm not discouraging creativity, only saying that The Four could have benefited more from a far less ambitious approach.

There's little doubt that Chan's heart is with the more action- orientated parts of the movie as he quickly morphs the supposed crime procedural drama into a battle between cadres of mutants. It's here that The Four breaks out its mishmash of characters that are blatantly copied from the other side of the world: A mind-reading girl bound to a wheelchair with a 'X logo' wheel, who can also control objects with her mind is an embodiment of 2 certain characters from X-Men, an assassin who can turn totally invisible and create a force field is a concept lifted directly from a certain character in Fantastic Four and a hubris- laden, quick-witted man who can set himself on fire (and freeze people for good measure) draws traits from another character in Fantastic Four. It seems really ironic that a movie dealing with counterfeit money is in fact the most glaring counterfeit showcase.

At least the movie's serviceable special effects and professional, if completely routine action set-pieces do the Chinese rendition of Marvel characters justice but I sincerely question whether The Four really wants to be saved at all at this point. The conclusion is conservative, uninspiring and uncreative, and really all about relying on an untidy myriad of special effects to put out the fireworks than mitigating its embarrassments with a rousing display of well-choreographed action. There's nothing from The Four to take home with – just a reminder of a disaster that could have been avoided had the movie been crafted with more thought and less narcissism.

• www.moviexclusive.com

Based loosely on the Chinese X-men-meets-wuxia comic, Four Constables, upon being impressed by their Capcom-style bar fight, the benevolent Professor X-type character recruits two CGI-enhanced fighters to join his team of ultra-top secret police as they hunt for the criminal mastermind behind a money-counterfeiting ring.

Maybe some of you had to read the above sentence twice. Unfortunately, the film isn't in any way as clear, as the jumbled mess of a plot isn't something that requires attention to comprehend, rather, it just skips along from part A to C and hopes that no-one will mind.

But that's not The Four's biggest problem.

Seemingly convinced that if Hollywood can get away with shallow, green-screened action turds, they can too, the producers blatantly insult viewers by compiling a film they obviously thought nobody would have anything to moan about as long as it looked good. And, to their credit, it did look good.

So, if you like soulless entertainment thinly veiled as a film (something which requires plot and character development components to really work), then you may just find this worthy of your time; if, however, you're looking for something that won't leave you scratching your head or wondering why there are a million characters when none of them have anything remotely interesting going on, you've been warned.