The Four - movie trilogy review

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Some movies make you laugh, cry and others allow you to sit back and enjoy the action. For others you need to suspend the disbelief and enjoy the surround sound, even if the plot is rather stupid.

And sadly "The Four" trilogy doesn't even qualify for the latter group. No doubt the sound engineers had a field day, and again Chinese money gave the three shows really serious production values beyond what Hong Kong studios can offer, but it's not enough to save these movies.

The plot borrows a lot from a variety of sources, including X Men, where a group of individuals with special powers gather to fight evil. It then uses Justice Bao and the treasure trove of stories on corrupt officials, weak emperors and their cronies to formulate a story. But despite a liberal use of CGI and a rather stellar ensemble cast, the stories lack depth, and even if you suspend, burn or totally eliminate disbelief, it's still hard to swallow the talking tree which revives the evil official's son, and the chameleon like skills of the sorceress, and many other people with special powers.

Of course if you like to see nubile ladies, the chick factor is pretty high, and the show is littered with B or C grade starlets which give the shows plenty of eye candy.

If you want real kungfu, look elsewhere, as you don't get much in terms of that. And even the CGI falters under the scrutiny of Blu Ray and a Hi Def display.

The surround sound is awesome, with plenty of use of the surround channels and the bass is used for both explosions and impact, but it's hard to appreciate this when the plot is less than paper thin.

I guess if you are a fan of the ensemble actors, and don't have much to do, the surround experience plus the eye candy makes this a possible rental, but I would advise against owning them unless they come on sale at Black Friday.



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 I have no financial interest or other interests in any of the items / events I write about.

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