Good movie, but best of all time? Hardly . . .

if their story seems completely bonkers, almost like a feverish work of fiction, you ain't heard nothing yet.

After playing with our expectations, this turns out to be a very different sort of film.

It's easily one of the freshest, sharpest and most enjoyable films of this year.

FOUR is a film that's far too low budget to work properly. The entire movie literally consists of four actors in a grungy old warehouse, with no lighting and seemingly no script given the constant, expletive-laden, and repetitive nature of the dialogue.The best thing about this film is a monologue by guest star Sean Pertwee early on, when he talks about other, better films like RESERVOIR DOGS which was a clear inspiration. After that we get the usual guy-strapped-to-a-chair nonsense, with lots of brutality and slight veers into torture porn territory.Sadly the direction is absolutely pedestrian, the script brings nothing new to the table, and acting from the likes of Martin Compston and Craig Conway isn't enough to tune in for. For a much better version of a similar story, check out the American B-flick SUSHI GIRL.

Plenty of twists and turns in this very wordy plot; but not one that will leave you gasping trying to figure out. It's all pretty straight forward once certain revelations are made. After a nice beginning I felt it lost a bit of momentum over the middle third, but picked up again towards the end. Admittedly it's not an original theme but I thought it was quite nicely done, if a little weak here and there. There is some very robust language so please be aware of this. Over all, pretty well made with some nice performances but it does suffer a little towards the middle.SteelMonster's verdict: RECOMMENDED (Just)… Could have been better…My score: 5.7/10IMDb Score: 3.5/10 (based on 32,290 votes at the time of going to press).MetaScore: No Data: (Based on 0 critic reviews provided by Metacritic.com at the time of going to press).Rotten Tomatoes 'Tomatometer' Score: 17/100 (based on 6 reviews counted at the time of going to press).Rotten Tomatoes 'Audience' Score: 0/100 'Liked It' (based on 72 user ratings counted at the time of going to press).You can find an expanded version of this review on my blog: Thoughts of a SteelMonster.

Having not heard a great deal about this movie I assumed that it would be passable at best. WRONG. It's a thoroughly entertaining and tightly made piece, with tight directorial pace and sharp dialogue. It is undeniably and unashamedly a film made on a lower budget than Hollywood fare but this is to the films credit rather than it's detriment. A lack of extraneous whistles and bells leaves a script which is economic and witty, delivered very competently by the cast. The location (which incidentally is beautifully lit)acts as the fifth member of this ensemble cast. The direction is stylish without being intrusive. There are a couple of lines of Dialogue I found clumsy but they are few and far between and given the nature of a dialogue and character driven piece not entirely unexpected. Bottom line, It is defiantly a film worth a look.

Some good things about this. The production design, the directing, the acting from most of the cast. The general movement of the story is interesting and compelling, but some detail in the dialog is clumsy and comes across as not clever and a bit cliché. On paper it may work, but the film has been ruined by one miscast actor. This actor in the business man. He may be a fine actor for a different script, but here he delivers the lines in a very unbelievable way. He has not crafted a character who we can connect with because his characters personality is never nailed. They needed a different actor to play this main protagonist. Unfortunately he is the weakest link when he is supposed to be the strongest. It might not be his fault. It is likely a casting and/or directing issue. He may be very good in other scripts. So film makers out there, take this as a lesson - casting is the next most important thing after script - without question.