It must be nice to live life by Full Moon standards. If your work does not cost too much, it can be average in most ways and make a little profit. Imagine if Wall Street worked like that. Oh wait, their system is even more screwed up. Well, that's enough political commentary for today. Let's jump right into the pile of low-budget film-making that is...
Yeah, they somehow made a stupider subtitle. Stupidity is its own reward.
*
The film begins with Jack returning from one of his time-travel adventures. When asked, he reveals that Shark (the lizard-robot thing from Trancers III) was killed in battle. Nice knowing you, random character with no back-story. Other than a sight gag where Jack has the thing's head plugged in as a lamp (no, really), he is gone. But wait, there is more. You recall how Jack's dead-wife-in-another-body-from-the-past is in the present (our future) with him and that our hero is now single (after being dumped in Trancers III)? Well, forget that too. Some random council member (he has a name, but I don't care) is now with her and says that Jack 'should have known that this was coming.' Well, of course he did. It was the gap between movies, which automatically kills any love-life he may have.
*
Jack goes out drinking and randomly hits on some lady. When she turns him down, he gets all 'I know women like you' and she leaves. Lo and behold, he runs into her the next day- as his new weapon's designer. That black lady from the Council from Trancers 1-3 is gone with no explanation too, by the way. Should have seen that coming, huh? While in his tube to jump to another incident, a random monster that Jack killed re-spawns...somehow and a struggle breaks out. This sends his 'ship' (which is basically one of those pods that astronauts land in) off-course and he vanishes. Jack arrives in a new world and finds his way home smashed. His train of thought is interrupted by a lady being attacked by a man in a bad Renaissance Faire outfit. By the way, we changed genres just now. His new plasma gun does nothing and our hero nearly dies. Through sheer luck, he kills the guy and moves on.
*
This is basically what you need to know: Jack is in a dimension called Orpheus (subtle, movie) where trancers are rich nobles that suck life energy from commoners. Yes, they are in fact energy vampires. The lack of a naked lady version is a big oversight by the film. Their leader is a pompous noble who does all of his acting in his face and nowhere else. His son is rejecting the ways of the trancer and the lady chosen for him by daddy.
*
Meanwhile, Jack meets The Tunnel Rats aka the most generic group of freedom fighters in movie history. Our hero still gets captured and, in the process, learns that his favorite gadget- the long-second watch- does not work right anymore. Actually, they don't explain what is wrong with it until Trancers V. In this movie, he just moves in slow-motion, giving us no idea why. The resistance rescues Jack, leading up to the big fight. Son betrays father and father dies...at least until the sequel/second-half. The End.
*
This movie is...odd. The future plays a super-tiny part and the majority of it was shot in the woods of Romania. Jack- and by proxy Tim- looks very out-of-place in the setting, which works both for and against the movie. On top of that, the idea that trancers are now vampiric nobles is an odd choice. Our hero catches on to this idea in a rather quick and convenient manner, almost as if he is trying to tell us that everything will be alright. Incidentally, this movie- as well as Trancers V- was written by Peter David, a comic book writer most famous for a 10-year run on 'The Incredible Hulk.' None of his talent ended up here. The movie is an interesting diversion, but far more forgettable than any other Trancers film.
*
Big finish! Big finish! Even if this movie is mostly a re-tread, I say BIG FINISH. Stay tuned...
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