First up the 2012 Chinese martial arts supernatural action film The Four. Gordon Chan directed and co-wrote the script adapted from the 1973 novel Si Da Ming Bu (四大名捕; The Four Great Constables) by Wen Ruian. The movie is set about 1100 AD during the reign of Emperor Huizong of Song. There's a counterfeit ring operating and it's having a destabilizing effect on the economy. The poor are suffering as usual. Anthony Wong is the head of the small detective squad called the Devine Constables. They are a mixed bunch of characters that have special kung fu powers. Department Six is a larger government department that investigates crimes. The two groups clash at a restaurant while investigating the sale of a counterfeit coin die. The head
of Department Six is unhappy with the appearance of this previously unknown department. He fires Cold Blood, one of his head officers, in a secret plan to infiltrate the Devine Constables. Anthony offers Cold Blood a place in the group right away, against the advice of some of the other members. The investigation continues and more and more of the players in the plot are revealed. Some of them are awful murderous monsters. The plot seemed a fair bit complicated and you really had to pay attention. There's a lot of double crossing and secret plots going on. The fights are plentiful and fairly entertaining. They're the type that use a lot of wirework and CGI. Iron Fist can air punch a huge double door off it's hinges with his mighty hands. There are lots of really nice sets and locations augmented by CGI. And there's are zombies too. I enjoyed the heck out of it and would be curious to see the rest of the series when they come out. Joe ordered the Asian BluRay from an online store. The movie isn't out in the US yet.
Super Hybrid is a 2010 monster movie about a shapeshifting critter that hunts in the form of a car. It's a low-budget film shot in Regina pretending to be Chicago. The car critter grabs a couple of guys out of a bar and tricks them into getting to a fancy car with the keys dangling in the keyhole. Then the credits roll. Just after the crdits end the critter car is hit by a real car. The damaged car winds up in a police garage. There it chomps down on a couple of the mechanics before the rest of the crew discover it's not a car. Oded Fehr is the annyoing testofilled jerk in charge and he wants to capture it for the money and fame. He locks the place down and claims the keys are lost. Of course nearly everyone dies before the main heroine gets out all alone. It's a below average bit of yelling and monster chomping and no where near the top of the monster car genre. None of us were impressed and would watch it again.
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