Four Brothers

I've always loved revenge movies, and this one fits the bill because it has four brothers trying to find out the truth of their mother's murder. The four brothers are all superb in their roles, as adopted brothers from foster care that went their separate ways, who come home to find out who killed their mother and why. The 8 minute AOL trailer on the movies sold me. Also superb is Terrence Howard as a Detroit cop who doesn't trust his own who is desperately trying to find out what happened himself. The plot is well executed through twists and turns. Mark Wahlberg just gets better and better. He was great in "Three Kings," and he is better here.

If you had ever told me that I would end up really liking a movie starring Marky Mark from the Funky Bunch and the lead singer of Outkast (the perpetrators of one of the most annoying songs in recent history - Hey Ya) then I would've laughed right in your face. Come on, a movie with three rappers (Tyrese throws down the rhymes also, yo!)? There's no way I would've expected that to satisfy my entertainment needs. But I'm man enough to admit that I would've been wrong.

Four Brothers is a gritty, testosterone-fueled crowd pleaser that mixes drama, action, and humor. If you're looking for something light and fluffy then keep on looking because you won't find it here. But if you're in the mood to see some bad guys get pumped full of bullets and fists then this will put a smile on your face. The audience at the screening I attended was clapping and cheering throughout the movie. You'd have thought we were at a wrestling match.

This plays out a bit like a Western. A wrong is done, a posse seeks to get revenge against the wrongdoers, and the wrongdoers are painted in such an unlikable fashion that you're just begging for them to taste a little vigilante justice.

As for the good guys, well, they fall under the "anti-hero" moniker. They aren't scared to sidestep the law in order to get what they're after. But within the context of the movie you can't really blame their motives. Their mother adopted them when nobody else wanted anything to do with them. They were considered lost causes, yet she took them in, gave them a family, and put her faith in them.

They didn't turn out to be saints, but as one cop says, "They're Congressmen compared to what they would've been." Now their mother, just an old lady always trying to do good, is dead and the cops don't seem to be doing anything about it. Wrongs have to be made right, and the brothers decide they're the ones that have to make it right.

This is one of those movies that I figured I'd somewhat enjoy, but I walked out of the theater thinking, "Man, I didn't expect it to be THAT good!" It's rare that I find such a diamond in the rough, so I savor it as if I'm Rob Schneider at a stupid movie convention.

One reason I had my doubts going in was I feared it might be drowned in loud, annoying hip-hop stylings. Plus, every Outkast song I've ever heard has made me want to gouge my eardrums with a letter opener, so I feared the worst from Andre Benjamin. "How annoying is this guy going to be?" I asked myself. But all my fears were unfounded. Instead, we're surrounded by a world of crooked cops, bad guys who wear man-furs, surprisingly good acting, believable chemistry, a couple of subtle twists, and a really cool car chase on ice. I'm always up for a good revenge flick, and I'm happy to report that this one exceeded my expectations.

THE GIST

Are you easily offended by violent revenge flicks? Then use your common sense and skip out on Four Brothers. But if that sounds like your kind of movie then I think you'll find this one works great within the genre.

I was ready to bet that this was a remake after an older movie. Great 60's and 70's music, the endless theme of the small town terrorized by a villain and the rise to justice of the people involved, Mark Wahlberg... ;)

OK, I am unfair to the man, but it's true isn't it? He is always cast into old looking movies or remakes. I actually like how he is playing. I think that he is a reasonable actor and has potential beyond the action movies in which we've become accustomed to seeing him.

The plot is quite simple: adoptive mother of four and town saint gets killed by thugs. The four brothers kick ass accordingly. But beyond the obvious cliché, the movie was quite good. The actors played well, the feelings were nicely transmitted to the audience and the details were realistic enough and emotion conveying. Actually, for this kind of movie, I am ready to grade high.

The bad thing about this film were the villains. Unconvincing small time crooks that suddenly have the power to hire people with Steyr Augur rifles and other high power weapons. Unconvincing crooked cop who has no motive for actually being corrupt. In the end, the movie is rather relaxing, considering we never meet anything unexpected.

Worth a watch, although I would rate it as a TV movie, to watch in bed, rather than a cinema thing.

Great movie, intesnse, fun, serious, action, funny, story. very entertaining (about 3 viewings)

I have to admit "Four Brothers" is not a movie I was giddy about seeing. I didn't have really high expectations and why should I, much less you? Well, if you do have high expectations, you better lower them, because "Four Brothers" is not a deep and involving picture but is really more of a straight-forward action flick with a few sly one-liners thrown in for good measure.

There's not a single wince of brain activity throughout it, though the four "brothers" of the title (Mark Wahlberg, Andre Benjamin, Tyrese Gibson, Garrett Hedlund), explained by one character as being "total f**k-ups," do express a convincing degree of unity in that you actually believe they're related through their deceased, adopted mother Evelyn Mercer (Fionnula Flanagan).

Wahlberg is Bobby Mercer, the courageous tough-talking eldest brother and the one with a chip on his shoulder. Not surprisingly, he does the most talking and is the obvious leader. Benjamin is Jeremiah Mercer, the only one of the four to really make something of himself in that he has a legitimate business, a wife (Taraji P. Henson) and children, and the closest ties to their mother. Gibson is Angel Mercer, a (former) soldier of fortune who has the ladies (including feisty Latina Sofia Vergara), the bragging rights, and the connections. Lastly, Hedlund is Jack Mercer, the youngest and grungiest of the four who's also a wannabe rocker and had the most troublesome childhood of them all.

The four are reunited at the funeral of their dear mom, who was viciously slain in a liquor store robbery. The brothers suspect that because of the particularly heinous nature of the crime, their mother may not have been some innocent bystander but was really executed, and the robbery itself was just there to throw off the cops.

After much contemplation and not even bothering to heed the warnings of two flaky detectives (played by Terrence Howard and Josh Charles), the four go after their mom's killer. It shouldn't be any surprise that they find their mother had been inadvertently drawn into the middle of some big insurance scheme or something along those lines (it's not really all that well explained), so the brothers look to settle the score with anyone - everyone.

As directed by John Singleton (whose outstanding landmark 1991 debut "Boyz N the Hood" remains the pinnacle of his career), "Four Brothers" is loud, dumb, and violent. The plot does a little more than resemble "The Sons of Katie Elder" (1965), which I haven't seen, but I doubt it was as lacking in intelligence as "Four Brothers."

However, the movie should be praised because it is strangely appealing (the totally PC leads notwithstanding), and the action is fast and furious, culminating in an impossible car chase through the ice-slicked Detroit streets during a snowstorm. And Singleton shows he hasn't completely lost my respect in that he's a good director during these scenes and succeeds in creating a believable atmosphere of unity amongst the four brothers.

I expect this movie to be a success, since it's the last week of the summer and the August season of blockbusters has passed. But hey, it's the last week of the summer, "Four Brothers" is playing, and so don't everybody rush to the theaters. OK?

7/10