Holding out for nothing

Rating: 3/10 (5 October 2012)

Now I have seen all the movies in the series. The first was not bad but it wasn't that good either, the second, forgettable, same as the third and now the fourth makes me feel like I really am holding out for nothing.
In a movie you need to make the audience care about the characters. This is to make sure that when something dramatic happens or when you try to build suspension people will actually feel something. You need to either want the person to die or get hurt or you need to want them to be better of. Many movies pull this of in the opening act of the movie, this series hasn't pulled it of in 4 movies.
So far we know almost nothing about the characters in this series, their all cardboard cut outs easy to replace and when ever some one is threatened, close to death or even dies you end up going "meh". Why? Because they have no dept. It doesn't seem like the writers are even interested in making these characters interesting. The movie is also very drawn out, far too much time is spent on getting the audience trying to sympathize with the characters but since they have no real character, no personality and nothing about them that makes them likable this just doesn't happen.
The love interests have no chemistry, this makes the drama surrounding it less believable. The lead actress problems and reasons for her actions are so shallow, childish and selfish that you end up disliking her when the intention is the opposite and the male leads end up coming of like easily manipulates sock puppets.
The production value is quite high, this is the best thing about the movie but a polished surface if not enough to endure these drawn out plots that give almost nothing. There is no pay of in the end.
You end up sitting trough the series thinking "soon, soon something will happen that makes me react, makes me feel something" but it just doesn't happen. If you have not seen the first movies, don't waste your time on them.