When I picked up this 2024 movie, I have to say that I was a bit hesitant. Why? Well, the movie's title was just rather crappy. It sounded like something of a religious man made into fighting. And with this 2024 movie apparently being the fourth movie in the franchise, and me never having heard of the previous three movies, then I figured that this may be a questionable movie. But still, since I had never seen it, nor heard about it, of course I opted to check it out.
Writers Anthony Russell Bryant, Sophia Lopez, Stephen Meier, Jalal Merhi and Chris Power put together a script and storyline for a movie that seemed like it had somehow time traveled forward in time from the 1990s. Yeah, it was cheesy and bland, no doubt about that. And isn't it just rather impressive that no less than five writers could collectively managed to churn out something so bland and generic?
Much of the dialogue in the movie definitely was cringeworthy. It was awkward to listen to, and it was just clumsy dialogue.
Of the entire cast ensemble in the movie, then I was only familiar with Billy Blanks. So the movie's headliner was apparently David Yeung, the son of Bolo Yeung, but I have to say that was not familiar with David Yeung at all. "The Circuit 4: Faith Fighter" is not a movie that relies on grand acting performances from the cast ensemble, which is a good thing, I would say, as you're not exactly in for an evening of Shakespearian theater here.
"The Circuit 4: Faith Fighter" looked, felt and sounded like it was a martial arts movies that you'd expect to stumble upon in the 1990s. It was a rather dull and sort of pseudo-amateurish attempt at a martial arts movie.
Some of the fighting scenes in the movie were actually not too shabby, and they helped to make it bearable to sit through the rubbish that is "The Circuit 4: Faith Fighter".
I have to say that I just don't understand the "Faith Fighter" part of the title. It makes zero sense, and it just hints a stupid religious element to the movie. Had they just opted to go for "The Circuit 4" and nothing else, it would have been much more meaningful.
The music in the movie was pretty terrible. It felt so out of place in a martial arts movie, and it was just cringeworthy to listen to. But then again, I never have been a fan of hip hop and rap music.
My rating of director Jalal Merhi's 2024 movie "The Circuit 4: Faith Fighter" lands on a generous three out of ten stars.
