【电影简介】

暮色下的京城，一道铁闸分隔江湖与世俗两个世界。女侠姬遥花率亲随踏进守卫森严的六扇门，众人皆为她的美貌倾倒，却不见她的狠毒可以杀人于无形。

六扇门捕快冷血奉命“钓鱼”独行大盗莫三，却遭讨债人追命破坏，莫三趁乱逃跑，被神侯府诸葛正我所擒，莫三手中的铜模亦被收缴，而追命竟是江湖卧底捕快。六扇门在与神侯府的交锋中丢脸，行动失败的冷血被革职出门，投靠在神侯府效命，是真心效命还是卧底人生？

江湖充斥假币，铜模因何意外丢失？四大名捕——无情、冷血、铁手、追命受命侦破案件，而姬摇花则穿梭于两派之间“兴风作浪”，出卖线索亦搜罗各种情报，实则是为了让幕后主子渔翁得利，然而算计未必赶上突变，形势大逆转之时，是忠实旧主还是通杀挡路人？而那些男人，是被利用的工具还是心中的有情人？

【音频文本】

"The Four" is the kind of movie that explains why imported films dominate more than 70 percent of market share in Chinese cinemas. For the duration of the film, you do not sense much serious commitment other thanthe commitment to profit. Director Gordon Chan has a habit of providing the public with whatever is missing in the market. And, apparently, he has found that Chinese movie-goers are missing a movie adaptation of a Gongfu novel written by Wen Rui'an, who is perhaps the third most popular Gongfu novelist in China.

But "The Four" is not so much about Gongfu as it is about superheroes and sorcery. The screenwriters, led by the director, have stripped the original work of its Gongfu essence, keeping the names to lure an audience. The major characters, including the four constables, possess abilities that are often seen in sciencefiction: werewolf powers, telepathy, elemental powers, and other things that remind you of the X-Men series. These are all cheap and easy ways to entertain the audience, but the online comments suggest that the viewers are not pleased.

Other noticeable efforts include the use of the camera rail system. This technique does lend a third dimension to a 2D action film. Apart from that, there is hardly any professional use of cameras. The film seemsto consist of too many close shots in numerous short takes, perhaps a little too many for viewers who havestomach problems.

Fortunately, you may only have to endure the close-up assault for the first 15 minutes. After that, your can focus on other parts of the film. For example, you can concentrate on the beautiful face of actresses Liu Yifei. Her role in the film is that of a female constable named Wuqing or, and here I quote the appalling subtitles, Emotionless. This role, Emotionless, may sound challenging for Hollywood actresses, but not for Chinese ones. For an actress to be popular in China, she needs to have two faces: a pretty face and a poker face. Liu Yifei has both and therefore nails the character without much effort.

Almost every other actor and actress fails to create an impact, including the stage veteran Anthony Wong. The only other exception is actor Wu Xiubo who saved the day. His acting is perhaps the only thing about the film that makes the viewers ask for more.

Nonetheless, more will come. "The Four" is just a prequel in a Gongfu film series, and that means we will see more poker-faces and superheroes. So, it seems there are profits to make in the Chinese movie industryafter all, enough to encourage investors and directors to make more films, regardless of the quality and viewers' opinions. For the matter at hand, I give "The Four" a three out of ten.

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