The Four (四大名捕) 2012

[whiteskwirl]

The Four (四大名捕), a new wuxia film coming July 2012, is a Wen Rui'an adaptation.

You can see the teaser trailer here:



It stars Deng Chao, Liu Yifei, Collin Chou, and Ronald Cheng.

Some photos

[charbydis]

Trailer looks cool but I am quite traumatised in finding out that Wu Qing is a female.

[Krimzon]

That looks terrible. Even the special effects in fight scenes were terrible.

[shellie]

i'm down for just about anything with deng chao, collin chou or anthony wong. i don't care for lyf so hopefully she'll be passable. the frontal shot of her expression in the trailer looks much like one from any of her other movies, sort of bland. i could be wrong though.

[Cesare]

i'm down for just about anything with deng chao, collin chou or anthony wong.

Ditto.
I, for my part, am also down for just about anything Si Da Ming Bu - so this is more or less a must-see.
Not happy about LYF Wu Qing, though, not happy at all.

[Ian Liew]

I'm really looking forward to this too - I really like Collin Chou playing non evil characters. He looked so cool as Jet Li's father in Fearless.

I'm indifferent about any of the characters changing to female, although if any of them had to do it I'd go for Wu Qing. Liu Yifei is more than capable of handling cold, cool, expressionless characters, though, so I don't really think she'll ruin the feel of the show or anything. I'm more concerned about Deng Chao's Leng Xue, since I've only ever seen him as Zhang Wuji, and he wasn't really that impressive. I have no idea who Zui Ming's actor is too, but that is sometimes a blessing.

[Cesare]

In the end, LYF was as pretty as a picture and boring as hell (as usual). I still think the idea sucks but whatever...

I guess I'd prefer something more grounded and better written, but what the heck... Once I accepted the sheer overdoneness of it all and got used to the fantastic elements, I started to really enjoy it. It's stupid and pretty bad, but enjoyably so...:-) Looking forward to the sequel.

(Deng Chao is cool.)

[xiaolong]

I didn't like the movie. The plot was convoluted and character development was anaemic. But I did find Wu Xiu Bo's character as the zombie-maker pretty interesting. The funniest being the part when he lustfully kissed a pretty female zombie he just conjured, then his squirmed and said, "Feels kind of slimy." Up to know, I can't figure out what Anthony Wong was doing and Deng Chao looked constipated throughout.

As for LYF, I was actually surprised at how good she was as Emotionless. And even though she didn't do much with high kicks and somersaults in the fight scenes (since Emotionless is a cripple), I think she exacted the hardest blows. Agreed, the Emotionless character probably require the same style of acting like her XLN in ROCH2006, but hey, why not excel at what one does best? I'm all for versatility for artistes with the talent, but if an artiste has limitations in that area, then specialization is actually a really good idea. So LYF as Emotionless was really my favourite in a movie I didn't care much about anyway, hahah!

[Ian Liew]

I didn't like the movie. The plot was convoluted and character development was anaemic. But I did find Wu Xiu Bo's character as the zombie-maker pretty interesting. The funniest being the part when he lustfully kissed a pretty female zombie he just conjured, then his squirmed and said, "Feels kind of slimy." Up to know, I can't figure out what Anthony Wong was doing and Deng Chao looked constipated throughout.

As for LYF, I was actually surprised at how good she was as Emotionless. And even though she didn't do much with high kicks and somersaults in the fight scenes (since Emotionless is a cripple), I think she exacted the hardest blows. Agreed, the Emotionless character probably require the same style of acting like her XLN in ROCH2006, but hey, why not excel at what one does best? I'm all for versatility for artistes with the talent, but if an artiste has limitations in that area, then specialization is actually a really good idea. So LYF as Emotionless was really my favourite in a movie I didn't care much about anyway, hahah!

Yeah - Liu Yifei can do expressionless blank faces quite well, and looks quite cool when doing so too. How did Collin Chou do? he was the one I was most interested in. Just the token real martial artist?

[xiaolong]

Yeah - Liu Yifei can do expressionless blank faces quite well, and looks quite cool when doing so too. How did Collin Chou do? he was the one I was most interested in. Just the token real martial artist?

Oh, Collin Chou was in the movie? Oops, I didn't notice. I blanked out most of the time except for LYF scenes...and I'm not even a big fan of hers. So weird.

[Cesare]

Anthony Wong was rather unenthusiastic indeed. But he can afford it, since he oozes charisma all over the place even when he switches off.
Collin Chou didn't get to do much which is a real shame, as Tie Shou is my fave constable.

LYF was cool? When? She was her usual "let's do nothing and look good" blank-faced self most of the time...:-)

Wu Xiubo is easily the best, the coolest and the most entertaining thing/person in The Four...:-)
But I did enjoy Ronald Cheng's Zhui Ming as well.

[szfong]

I just saw this film yesterday.. I kinda liked "The Four" 2012 as it is the Chinese "adaptation" of Van Helsing + X-Men ALL mixed into one. I think it has 3 fillm/episodes/parts to it though.... LYF is Dr. Xavier+Jean Grey, the leader is like Magneto and the guy going wild because he thought his puppy was "cooked", ummm Wolverine comes to mind...

[ByTmE]

I tried 4 times to sit through this series.

Well, I gave it a valiant effort, I guess. LYF was just...the character is tacky...so are her pigtails. As for Jiang Yiyan...I did not find her very appealing at first, but the longer she stayed on screen the more alluring she got. Wow, I am a fan now. LYF has the opposite effect.

[szfong]

Yeah LYF is always being criticized for her acting or lack there-of... I think alot of actresses who were more qualified and competed against her for starring roles and lost are "jealous" of her. Especially the "agents & talent agencies" of those actresses. Indeed, she seldom shows emotions in her acting and is not as versatile as many... but her looks seems to be in high demand & acting is not a profession like being a lawyer or a doctor, where GPA/exams/talent matters... it is looks all the way and producers & directors & advertisers like her.

I remembered in Hollywood/USA their were actresses & actors who were snorting drugs or boozing in there trailers/dressing rooms & no one dared to criticize them. I once witness an actress who couldn't remember/recite 3 lines until the director says to just improvise.. her brain cells were probably fried from all that "partying".. another actress was shaking her head and the director called her over and spoke a few words into her ears which made her turn white with fear.. But that actress brought in the box office hits/awards & lots of acclaim... LYF is much better in many ways than some of those actresses in Hollywood.... who gets runs ins w/ police every few months...

I heard LYF stopped doing TV series and just doing movies and commercials.... She's also quite wealthy right now and can also return to America if things don't work out in China, that's what I heard... It's always good to have a career backup plan....

I sure wish I had more time to watch Chinese Series, but they are just way too long sometimes..... Maybe in a few decades when I get old and retire and catch up on those