Si da ming bu

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.

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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.

First, to get one of the major negative points out of the way. Whoever directed and had a hand at editing the very first big action sequence, deserves to get his or her head checked, and then shot at. The major misconception adopted was that fast-paced editing, with every shot lasting mere milliseconds, and flitting amongst countless of characters, even for a flash of the eye, does not get interpreted as fast paced. What this only achieves, is to irritate the audience, since everything's a blur, and nobody can see anything with everything whizzing by, and the camera work not helping. Perhaps it's to capture the adrenaline rush of the moment, but seriously, it just demonstrates amateur skills at play to mask poorly shot martial arts, or just plain incompetence on the filmmakers' part.

Thankfully, that was the only badly done fighting scene, with subsequent ones picking up in design, pace, and editing to provide a decent semblance of who's battling whom. The Four has a shaky start, but it improves from there, so between the two directors in Gordon Chan and Janet Chun, the latter having cut her teeth in comedies such as All's Well Ends Well 2011 and The Jade and the Pearl, one can only wonder who had more say. The story in this big screen installment deals with the proliferation of counterfeit coins, culminating in what many would have seen in trailers as a zombie-pocalypse, but what it truly is, was to take its time in the introduction of the titular characters, and then some, complete with politicking amongst factions, and individuals caught up in a web of deceit.

Essentially, it's a tale of two investigative functions, the Department Six Constabulary, and the Divine Constabulary, with the former now infiltrated by a shadowy group of six female inspectors, led by the ambitious Ji Yaohua (Jiang Yiyan), and the latter being that group with elite powers as granted by, and answering directly to the Emperor himself. Led by the evergreen Anthony Wong as Zhuge Zheng Wo, he is like the chaperon always on the lookout for gifted individuals with special prowess, whom he bands together under his investigations banner. Yes that's right, think of it like Professor X's School for Gifted Youngsters, with similarities in this version being quite like taking a leaf out of familiar Marvel heroes.

Which isn't really a bad point, given that this shares similar ambitions in wanting to tell a quality story, filled with intriguing, powerful characters who bicker more than they cooperate. It's a successful fusion of martial arts and special effects without going overboard with the latter, making this somewhat like a movie with oriental medieval mutants on display, out to help rid society of ills and those with evil intentions. And story aside, with its twists, turns and really extended fashion in going from point A to B, it's the characters that stand out, and make it fun to watch.

Liu Yifei headlines the quartet as Emotionless, a girl paralyzed from the waist down, but blessed with psychic abilities, a familiar looking wheelchair and having a penchant for hidden darts as deadly projectiles. Her movie outings of late has been period films from White Vengeance to The Forbidden Kingdom, but her character has to stay pretty serious looking for the most parts, despite romantic interest shown from Deng Chao's Cold Blood. A cross between the Incredible Hulk and Wolverine for being brought up by wolves, he finds an attraction toward Emotionless, and these two serve up, as best as they can, as the central emotional anchor for this film, which didn't play off too well.

Ronald Cheng, on the other hand and to great surprise, nails it as the comical loafer type as Life Snatcher, a new recruit whose fighting abilities resemble more like Storm Warrior's Cloud with focus on lower body limb attacks, contrasted against Collin Chou's Iron Hand, who is the team's blacksmith, and has ample opportunity to show off his bronzed abs. Their roles are pretty one-dimensional here, especially Chou's, and it's quite a long wait before these two get a chance to flex their muscles against enemy forces, forging a rivalry / partnership ala Gimli and Legolas in the Lord of the Rings trilogy, given their contrasting abilities.

Wu Xiubo also deserves mention as the chief villain here known as The God of Wealth, a conniving schemer who has no qualms at disposing allies once they serve no further purpose, and while he may not be the greatest martial arts villains out there, he's certainly one of the most memorable. The score by Henry Lai also stands out, especially its banjo sounding main theme that hints of an upcoming big fight each time it airs, though the film sometimes lapses into unnecessary posing for the sake of, atop watch towers, or lingering in bath waters to witness six female warriors letting their armour down.

As already reported, this film is now the first part of a trilogy, and that the sequels have already begun shooting. So far so good, as the story picked up as it went on, with the requisite finale with everything and everyone coming together for that last hurrah big battle, with enough twists and double crossings that lead the door wide open for follow up films. Hopefully by then, all the titular Four constables will be given screen time to build up characterization, and we should be in for quite a ride in this Chinese fantasy franchise!

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.

I was genuinely surprised with the movie and I hadn't expected it to turn out to be such an entertaining movie. If you try to imagine mixing movies such as "X-Men" and "Hero" together, then the end result come out to be "The Four" (aka "Si da ming bu"). This is a historical Kung Fu drama spiced up with mystical powers.

The storyline is interesting from the very beginning and just starts to work up in intensity and depth from the very beginning.

To shortly summarize the story; counterfeit bills appear in the capitol and two special government departments work hard to unravel the criminal activities.

This movie makes heavy use of wires, so if you dislike the Wire Fu genre, then chances are that you want to skip on the movie. However, if you enjoy this particular genre, then there is a lot of great wire action to see.

The fighting and action sequences are well-choreographed and equally well executed.

As a story-based movie, it is important to have outstanding and memorable characters. And "The Four" has that. Lots of layers to the characters, and the cast was well picked for the roles and characters. I will say that the cast in the movie was nothing short of impressive. I was particularly impressed with Anthony Chau-Sang Wong and Yifei Liu.

"The Four" is definitely a movie to watch if you enjoy Asian cinema.