Gordon Chan's 'The Four' Trilogy (2012/2013/2014)

[ShaOW!linDude]

This could be interesting.

 

http://twitchfilm.com/news/2011/11/gordon-chan-will-flood-china-with-the-undead-in-the-four.php

 

Gordon Chan appears to be in production of a Chinese period piece/zombie film.

Hope this doesn't get all wuxia/wire-work filled. This needs to be grounded, dadgummit. Uh...question: do Chinese zombies hop?

[Drunken Monk]

There's no You Tube video to embed that I could find, so you're going to have to make your way over to Twitchfilm to see the teaser trailer...

http://twitchfilm.com/news/2012/04/gordon-chans-the-four-fight-the-undead-with-kung-fu-in-first-teaser.php

It looks like a period X-Men with added martial arts. I wasn't entirely impressed with the trailer, in terms of kung fu, but it does look somewhat enjoyable due to the sheer amount of interesting visuals and characters on display.

I'll embed a You Tube video when I locate one.

[Jinha]

we also have it at our site Film Smash Archives

Teaser for The Four (Constables)

[daisho2004]

I'd give it a watch.

[lillippa328]

looks cool...a little different

[rdenn]

there has been loads of tv series of the 4 constables this time they have a women in the wheelchair it was always a man before., looks worth watching.

[thedirtytiger]

It looks like one of the better movies to come around recently, I am certainly looking forward to it.

[Cesare]

Not happy about the Wu Qing thing at all. Liu Yifei? Blargh.

(I will give it a shot, though.)

[Ronin]

Full trailer is out:

Twitch

Liking what I see in that trailer.

[Drunken Monk]

It certainly looks interesting. I see the new fad is to have people running across tiled roofs.

[rdenn]

that last trailer has put me off now, looks like we are going to get more cgi than quality action. but hope im wrong.

[DiP]

Gordon Chan directing... Should say enough.

[Sevket]

Should be good

[TibetanWhiteCrane]

Gordon Chan directing... Should say enough.

Really?? I submit.... FINAL OPTION, THE MEDALLION, KING OF FIGHTERS.... Should I go on?

He's made some good films, but is far from a quality stamp in and of himself.

[DiP]

That was actually what I meant. I did enjoy films like the first two Fight Back To School films, King Of Beggars, and Beast Cops (I consider it more a Dante Lam film). But like you said, he's hasn't left too many classics behind him.

This film looks nowhere good either.

[TibetanWhiteCrane]

Oh, I thought you meant it the other way....

[Jibbajabbawocky]

I'm.... strangely excited to see this.

[daisho2004]

The Four is a new wuxia film from director Gordon Chan (Fist of Legend), based on author Wan Ray-an’s famous novels about four detectives in ancient China. The cast includes Deng Chao, Ronald Cheng, Collin Chou, and Crystal Liu.

Gordon Chan and the cast were in Beijing yesterday to promote the film, which is considered one of the most anticipated Chinese films of 2012. They unveiled the trailer, which will hopefully appear online any day now. Says Chan, who co-directed the film with Janet Chun: “I never shoot real wuxia films. In this field, my best teacher was Tsui Hark, and I don’t dare get involved in this casually. I hope my teacher is able to see my efforts in this film.”

It was announced that The Four will open in China on July 12th, 2012, just a week after director Lu Chuan’s historical epic The Last Supper.

Enlight Media is the company behind The Four; CEO Wang Changtian claims that this film is just the first installment of a planned trilogy – and that shooting has already begun on Parts 2 and 3. Wang added, “I’m crazy about wuxia.”

Updates: Here’s the teaser trailer, courtesy of Twitch. Chinese Films has some high resolution stills revealing the four warriors in question. And here’s two conceptual posters. The cast promoted the film in Beijing the other day and unveiled seven new character posters. A brand new trailer and even more character posters over at Chinese Films.

A visually-stunning and action-packed new trailer. You probably figured nothing could top that last trailer, right? And you’d be right. So today we’ve got a trailer of behind-the-scenes footage.

BREAKING NEWS: Sweet wuxia gods, we’re as hyped for for this movie as anybody but can you really believe there’s yet another trailer? There is!

[derwood]

http://chinesepaladin.org/wp-content/uploads/2012/07/thefour_liuyifei01.jpg

Official synopsis - An undercover agent is assigned by his corrupt chief to infiltrate a rival department and sabotage their investigation of counterfeit currency. What he discovers is the counterfeiter’s real plan. To overthrow the capital. Not by flooding it with funny money, but .... I dont want to ruin it like they do in all the other write ups anyway

Not a bad watch at all, as long as you can forgive some sub par CG...which, as asian film fans Im sure we all can!

Fairly straightforward story with a classic romantic triangle thrown in for the ladies

"Features Liu YiFei (刘亦菲) as Heartless (无情), Deng Chao (邓超) as Cold Blooded (冷血), Collin Chou (邹兆龙) as Metal Hand (铁手), and Ronald Cheng (郑中基) as Life Chaser (追命). Set during China’s Northern Song Dynasty, the film is about four detectives with unique professional skills."

*1

These skills are not deeply explained, but to a traditional martial arts practitioner they are higher levels of qi manipulation (ie.SUPERPOWERS!!). In the version I saw they even refer to people having strong qigong which I thought was a nice touch. It is within this element that you get a fair amount of CG, but I found it appropriate & not overused.

The main story arc revolves around 2 groups of officials (one not so official, but directly linked to the king!) investigating a sinister plot to flood the streets of this (unnamed to my viewing recollection) city with counterfeit money. A corrupt businessman weilds the power to pull this off, & you kind of know what his endgame is. It is the ultimate move he makes to achieve this goal that is the clincher to this films zany element. To be honest, saying more would take away from your viewing experience, & I rate it worthy of a watch for all.

To say the actors involved made it more worth watching would be an undestatement. With a lesser cast I doubt I would have enjoyed this quite so much. In that sense I place it alongside Detective Dee, which also touched on the 'supernatural'...although it was debunked in that one! It also fits into the older supernatural film mould of greats like the Mr Vampire series or Spooky Encounters etc...

Gordan Chan's direction was well executed, although at times I felt the film was a little rushed & TV like.

The few action pieces are fun & Im sure a better copy would not only reveal more detail, but show them to be as well choreographed as they appeared in my viewing. Some wirework was involved, but not in any way that made me upset. With all the Qi sorcery element you dont care about some of the OTT stuff going on.

Good times

TRAILER HERE

[One Armed Boxer]

This movie gets a solid thumbs down from lovehkfilm, they even say the action sucks....that's enough for me to be giving it a miss -

http://www.lovehkfilm.com/reviews_2/four.html

[fiol]

i didnt like it

[peringaten]

Teal & orange is a plague corrupting the film world.

[rdenn]

i only got half way through this one fell asleep but havent got back to it yet, not a lot of action for the first half , they are actually making a sequel.

[M.H. Boroson]

It's a bad movie, and I don't think anyone will argue otherwise, but I'm a wuxia fan and I'm happy to watch even a bad movie that tells the story of a wuxia novel I'm probably never going to get to read. I love Jin Yong but it's good to see others now and then.

[phoenix_darshan]

I am stoked to inform you fellow martial art buffs that i found the full version uploaded on youtube and not to spoil it but it ranks in my top five MA movies.

Jg-NzEd5eXI

there is a girl in a wheelchair and she is like Xavier from X-men