The Four Warriors

OK, so this isn't a big budget production. In fact, it's probably a 'micro-budget' production. But what I really enjoyed about it is that the filmmakers didn't let that limit the scale of their story.

The people who made this film obviously love big, epic fantasy films... and they decided to make one despite the budgetary limitations. And they did a really good job!

Some of the baddies makeup effects don't quite come off and let it down a little, but this is an enjoyable ensemble film with some very nicely written bits of buddy-movie dialogue that could very easily be in a Hollywood blockbuster. And the relationships between the four warrior characters are nicely drawn, with the characters well acted.

It's also nicely shot, with good use of locations - which usually let lower budget films down.

If you only like fantasy films with $100m budgets and thousands of CGI warriors going into battle etc, then this probably won't be for you.

But if you enjoy fantasy stories and buddy movies give it a try.

Fantasy has to be the most underused genre these days, it's so rare to see one grace the silver screen and even straight to DVD movies are few and far between compared to every other genre.

The Four Warriors tells the story of *Drumroll* four warriors who come to the aid of a town where all the men and children have been taken during the night by unseen forces.

Lots of character development is on display but very little else.

It all looks the part as they often do, from the locations to the costumes it certainly looks authentic but when it comes to actual sfx it lacks. Thankfully it avoids CGI but its practical sfx are really poor and let the movie down.

The Four Warriors is nothing to write home about and certainly doesn't do anything to help the representation of fantasy movies but isn't as bad as most of the reviews would suggest.

Bad, but not THAT bad.

The Good:

Settings are great

The Bad:

Kristian Nairn

"Demons" look terrible

Has no real flow

Things I Learnt From This Movie:

"God & fighting do not go together" has to be the most ironic line I've ever heard in a movie.............ever

Every now and then I want to give some B movie the benefit of the doubt. Sometimes it turns out great, sometimes it doesn't. This is on of the latter.

Story: four crusaders (no idea which crusade, since their costumes are a hotch potch of anachronistic equipment) are on their way back from the holy land, only to come across a village full of hot looking MILFS who's sons and husbands have disappeared. The crusaders, of course after some disagreements, decide to stay and help the MILF in distress.

The movie then slowly drags along with endless silly conversations, one of the warriors performing a (badly choreographed) weapon practice or one of the damsels falling in love with one of our heroes. The entire middle 1/3rd of the movie is a giant bore lacking any kind of flow.

There are some nice scenery shots here and there, but they could not safe this crapfest. Maybe if one of the MIFLS in distress would go naked it would rank a bit higher in score, but I guess that was too much to ask.

2/10

Let's be honest, The Four Warriors is a low budget project that barely able to produce basic fantasy script. It's arduously slow and rigidly acted while the action part consists of the participant randomly flailing sword. Basically, it's a group of people reciting tired fantasy plot like a costume play.

The plot follows four soldiers, survivors of the Crusade who must now take arms again to defend the innocents. An hour is spent talking about stuffs off-screen, the mandatory evil abductor and some relics of the past. These guys practically narrate the entire time, and when it comes to interaction between characters, the acting is amateurish at best.

Merely talking will definitely not get the tension rolling, unfortunately the battle sequences don't fare better. Action is less than ten minutes of sword hurling, which is more painful to watch than to actually receive the blow. They also use slow motion to better capture the feeble combat.

This is, by all means, a small personal project from the cast, not remotely a fantasy flick for casual viewing.

I can barely believe I watched this to the end - this is, without much doubt, the worst film I think I've ever seen, and I've seen the Dungeons and Dragons films. The clunky, heavy handed plotting, the glaring genre signposting, the rabid cliches, generally awful acting, the painfully ridiculous wobbly fight scenes, the equally wobbly demon fingers, the drudgery of the action, and the condensed and, frankly, token ending climactic (maybe climatic would be a more appropriate term, used in relation to the weather in this film's case - it did have some nice weather shots, which felt more urgent than the plot ...) scene punch this film into the minus score zone. In fairness, there were some nice scenery shots, and there is, perhaps, something to be said for the villiage architecture aiming at something more generally 'historic' (at least they tried). Keeping one eye on a pretty hunky Hadrian Howard did keep me awake at least, even if he had some dreadful lines (admittedly getting some stiff competition from pretty much every other character in that department - and the accents were awful). As others have rightly said, if this was billed as a comedy it might have worked, with a bit of additional effort - it did have its 'you've got to be kidding me' moments - but the wink to the camera just doesn't come. That is and hour and a half of my life I clearly won't be getting back.