Rating:

Rent at Netflix
Rent at Blockbuster

Evelyn Mercer (Fionnula Flanagan) innocently walks into the local convenient store to scold one of her foster children for attempting to shoplift. She’s an angel of sorts, a kind old lady living in the roughest part of Detroit taking in the lost souls of the foster children in the city. It is at this convenient store that she meets her untimely fate as a suspicious robbery goes awry.

Four foster brothers of Evelyn reunite for her sad and unexpected funeral. Two white, two black, the “Mercer boys” have a troubled past riddled with crime and mischief. With a corrupt police force, they have decided that the loss of their mother deserves their own version of revenge. It is from there that they find out the original story of two gangbangers robbing a convenient store doesn’t add up, and that the death of their mother looks less like a random act of violence, and more like an execution.

Directed by John Singleton, the movie is an urban thriller that delves into the lawless underbelly of one of the most dangerous cities in the country. It’s hardly a realistic piece, and at times feels more like a version of the video game Grand Theft Auto. The cops are non-existent (with the exception of a detective played by Terrence Howard) during almost all criminal activity and every character in the film seems to have free reign to shoot or wave a pistol around just about any public place with no backlash. Whether this was done intentionally or not, the storyline is still entertaining despite its over-the-top nature and unrealistic scenarios.

One of the areas where Four Brothers misses the mark is giving the audience any emotional attachment to the characters. For it’s numerous attempts at being sentimental, you never really feel for the characters in the movie, and the dramatic scenes seem forced. The impact the Mother played on their lives is not addressed enough, nor is the background information on each brother. Perhaps it was poor casting of the characters, or just a bad script, but I never felt the sympathy and rage I should have for a group of brothers who just lost their Mother to a brutal murder. It is disappointing considering Singleton did such a fantastic job in this area with his first film Boyz ‘N the Hood.

Nonetheless, Four Brothers makes up for a lack of emotion with an intense action-packed storyline. You rarely go more than 10 minutes without a shootout, fight, or other violent altercation. There is a great car chase that takes place in a snow storm along with one of the best urban shootouts I’ve seen in a movie. The brothers are tough, street smart, and dont’ back down from anyone. The film has been labeled by many as an “urban Western”, and does resemble some of your classic Westerns that relied on themes of loyalty and revenge. You can also make the statement that Singleton was trying to replicate some of the popular gangster movies from the 70’s. In any event, you’ll find murder and mayhem throughout the picture making it your gold standard for a “guy” film.

Mark Wahlberg leads the cast of brothers by playing Bobby Mercer, a no-nonsense thug with a sentimental side. While this type of role is standard for Wahlberg in movies these days, it’s not one of his best performances as he just didn’t seem to mesh well with the rest of the cast. Andre “3000″ Benjamin plays the only succesful brother of the bunch, Jeremiah, and is surprisingly the highlight amongst the cast. His character is complex and has to juggle a family life alongside his desire to appease his brothers and seek revenge for his Mother’s murder. While I was unaware of his acting skills prior to the film, he definitely has a future in the film industry. Tyrese Gibson and Garrett Hedlund round out the Mercer brothers and really didn’t do much for me.

Overall, Four Brothers is an exciting urban thriller with a so-so cast to back it up. The logic behind much of the storyline is baffling, but you seem to ignore that as you soak up the action sequences. Definitely not a family film, nor the kind of thing you want to rent on a first date. The violence is intense along with strong language throughout the flick. Four Brothers is not a movie you’re going to fall in love with, but it is a good choice for a night when you just want some mindless violence from your DVD player.

3 out of 5 stars

Bonus: Features commentary from director John Singleton, numerous deleted scenes, and a few background featurettes on some of the more important scenes in the movie. Also carriest your standard theatrical trailers and bonus previews.

This movie was received in 2 days from Netflix (although I suspect my mailman just didn’t deliver my mail one day).