The Four 3 (2014)

Plot summary (story synopsis): An attempt to assassinate the Emperor (Alec Su) fails, but he is forced to go into hiding because bad guy Lord An (Yu Cheng Hui) has convinced the palace guards that the emperor is an impostor. Lord An has also gained the support of Ji Yao Hua (Jiang Yi Yan), the head of Department Six - the larger of the Emperor's two police units.

The Emperor knows that he can trust only Zhuge Zheng Wo (Anthony Wong), who heads the Emperor's other police unit called the Divine Constabulary. The Divine Constabulary consists of the eponymous Four who have various supernatural abilities - crippled psychic Emotionless (Crystal Liu Yi Fei), Iron Hands (Collin Chou), Cold Blood (Deng Chao) and Life Stealer (Ronald Cheng).

Emotionless had left the Divine Constabulary after finding out that the Emperor had ordered the death of her father (framed as a traitor). However she is at the Divine Constabulary when the Emperor goes there to hide.

She captures the Emperor and tries to build up the resolve to kill him to avenge her father's death. Before she can do so, they are attacked by Lord An's ninjas (this is a Chinese movie, but they dress and fight like ninjas). The rest of the Divine Constabulary rescues them and they all are now on the run from Lord An's men.

Some adventures later, they confront Lord An and his co-conspirators in the Emperor's palace and an epic fight breaks out.

***

The Four 3 is the last movie in The Four trilogy. It is an entertaining but unremarkable wu shu action movie. Gordon Chan directed all three movies, lending some continuity to the series.

It's possible to enjoy this third movie without having seen the earlier two movies. In the third movie you'll find some dude who is fused to a tree, and a shape-shifting assassin. Just accept them as part of the story. You don't need to know who they are.

While I did enjoy the first movie, I actually walked out of the second movie after about 20 minutes. It was slow and boring and I was also suffering from lack of sleep. This third movie is better than the second, but perhaps a bit less enjoyable than the first.

The first movie was mainly about the hot/cold romance between Emotionless and Cold Blood, this third movie is more about Emotionless's desire to avenge her father's death. The other 3 members of The Four don't get much character development. Considering how stunning Crystal Liu looks here, I have no complaints.

The plot is sufficient to propel the story forward at a fast pace, which helps to keep you entertained. Aside from the lack of character development, my main complaint is actually about the movie's lighting. I'm probably more interested in lighting than the average movie buff, but I'm not that much of a lighting geek.

The lighting here is distracting because it looks fake. Not just fake, but electric. In the library and dungeon scenes, the light looks like it is coming from recessed ceiling lights (there are no open flames or lanterns in sight) - not something you can do with candles or lanterns. The lighting is also always steady, no sign of flicker from flames, even when the main light is ostensibly a flickering flame right in the center of the room. And there's blue light coming from god-knows where.

Taken together, this makes the movie look like it was filmed on a TV set. Other kung fu movies, including the first The Four movie, might have similar lighting. I can't remember. All I know is that I noticed the incongruity in this movie.

Other gripes - the emperor is not regal at all. He lacks the self confidence to be a believable emperor. Leaving his kidnapper unpunished, peasants talking trash to him - not likely. And his idea of going out into the city to see what his people really think about him? No, no disguise for him. He floats around in the royal barge, his arrival loudly announced by his eunuch.

Superpowers? You see precious little from The Four. The main superpowers come from Zhuge Zheng Wo, who fights with cartoonish colored swirls of magical energy.

Pacing is fast, so all is not lost. The Four 3 is a reasonable way to kill some time, but is in no way unmissable.