Puppet master 4 lacks many things that made the first three movies feel like something special. There is the absence of that quiet, almost fairytale, quality found in previous instalments, noticeable right from the opening score.
I tried to be patient with this film- and indeed the opening, which focuses on other worldly demons who wish to guard the secret of life as tapped into by Toulon, feels like it has the potential to be interesting, something new, a further exploration of the puppet master mythology perhaps.
But it's wasted potential- nothing is explored in any kind of depth. This is especially disappointing in contrast to the thoughtful Puppet Master III. Up until now Puppet Master's puppets have always played a relatively small part in a greater story. Yes they probably are the reason people rent these movies, but we are treated to a lot more than just puppets killing people- there's interesting character development, some great building of tension, a rich past to explore but this film focuses mainly upon the puppets themselves, and these demonic critters sent from another dimension.
The whole cat/ mouse feel of the action gets really tiresome. It's just not fun to watch the same "scream, struggle a bit then eventually kill the baddie" routine over and over again in this movie. There's a genuine lack of tension as well. For example we see the puppet master's chest being prised open for about five minutes. The audience knows what will be inside- we've seen the other films, and yet we're forced to sit through this. Why? That isn't tension- a revelation, isn't a revelation if we already know what to expect.
Everything feels overly forced too. The boy-genius in his Converses who enjoys jumping around his room firing lasers at robots because he's "crazy fun!" too. He's not especially likable, he just feels like some, I dunno, Micheal J Fox in-the-80s throwback. The techno-babble is another annoying aspect of this film- we know means nothing so why bother? Even the selling point of this chapter- "when bad puppets go good!" is redundant because we've seen these puppets as justice-givers in the previous instalment. It's just really a sad contrast to the interesting characters we've met in previous instalments and the simplistic charm of those films too.
The sad news is this was filmed back-to-back with its sequel Puppet Master 5. I have the box set, so I'm inevitably going to watch it, but I'm not excited. I don't care about this badly executed plot. The characters aren't interesting to me. A definite change in direction is what I'm looking forward to. Still here's hoping I don't find myself whistling in boredom during the next one.
I tried to be patient with this film- and indeed the opening, which focuses on other worldly demons who wish to guard the secret of life as tapped into by Toulon, feels like it has the potential to be interesting, something new, a further exploration of the puppet master mythology perhaps.
But it's wasted potential- nothing is explored in any kind of depth. This is especially disappointing in contrast to the thoughtful Puppet Master III. Up until now Puppet Master's puppets have always played a relatively small part in a greater story. Yes they probably are the reason people rent these movies, but we are treated to a lot more than just puppets killing people- there's interesting character development, some great building of tension, a rich past to explore but this film focuses mainly upon the puppets themselves, and these demonic critters sent from another dimension.
The whole cat/ mouse feel of the action gets really tiresome. It's just not fun to watch the same "scream, struggle a bit then eventually kill the baddie" routine over and over again in this movie. There's a genuine lack of tension as well. For example we see the puppet master's chest being prised open for about five minutes. The audience knows what will be inside- we've seen the other films, and yet we're forced to sit through this. Why? That isn't tension- a revelation, isn't a revelation if we already know what to expect.
Everything feels overly forced too. The boy-genius in his Converses who enjoys jumping around his room firing lasers at robots because he's "crazy fun!" too. He's not especially likable, he just feels like some, I dunno, Micheal J Fox in-the-80s throwback. The techno-babble is another annoying aspect of this film- we know means nothing so why bother? Even the selling point of this chapter- "when bad puppets go good!" is redundant because we've seen these puppets as justice-givers in the previous instalment. It's just really a sad contrast to the interesting characters we've met in previous instalments and the simplistic charm of those films too.
The sad news is this was filmed back-to-back with its sequel Puppet Master 5. I have the box set, so I'm inevitably going to watch it, but I'm not excited. I don't care about this badly executed plot. The characters aren't interesting to me. A definite change in direction is what I'm looking forward to. Still here's hoping I don't find myself whistling in boredom during the next one.