The Four 3 features passable acting but lacks satisfying action sequences. The four legendary constables in The Four 3 (from left): Emotionless (Crystal Liu), Cold Blood (Deng Chao), Life Snatcher (Ronald Cheng) and Iron Hands (Collin Chou). SINGAPORE: The Four 3 is the concluding chapter of Hong Kong director Gordon Chan’s The Four martial arts film trilogy about the adventures of the the four legendary constables Cold Blood (Deng Chao), Emotionless (Crystal Liu), Life Snatcher (Ronald Cheng) and Iron Hands (Collin Chou). In The Four 3, they must stop Lord An, a cunning martial arts master, from overthrowing the emperor and taking his place. It is actually not necessary to watch the first two films to understand what’s going on in The Four 3, as its storyline is pretty simply and doesn’t reference the events of the first two films too much. The Four 3 features passable acting from the Liu and the rest of the cast and contains a plot twist towards the end which brings the story in a different direction, though most viewers will probably still be able to tell how the film will end. Unfortunately, as martial arts actioners go, the fight scenes in The Four 3 are dull and uninspired. Instead of featuring martial arts experts who exchange calculated blows, the fights in The Four 3 mainly revolve around the characters firing off coloured CGI ‘force blasts’ at each other. In fact, there are actually more instances of gunplay (seriously) and use of explosives/ ‘force blasts’ in the film than actual hand-to-hand combat. The film’s finale is the biggest letdown. Every martial arts film needs a big, satisfying fight at the end to impress the audience, and possibly make enough of an impression to get them to recommend it to their friends. But the final battle against Lord An (who looks suspiciously like Gandalf from The Lord of the Rings) in The Four 3 was the kung fu equivalent of a schoolyard fight instead of an epic brawl, and has a number of ridiculously cheesy action scenes. In spite of this, The Four 3 is not a terrible film. While the film lacks strong action sequences, it still managed to successfully highlight the romanticism of the Wu Xia genre through the (albeit stilted) dialogue between its characters and has excellent production values. All in all, The Four 3 is a mildly entertaining conclusion to the trilogy, a tale of heroes bound by love and honour, as well as villains blinded by ambition and their lust for power. 2.5/5 stars. The Four 3 is now showing. Source CNA
Posted on: Fri, 29 Aug 2014 04:45:07 +0000
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