Four Brothers (2005)
Average Rating: 5.7/10
Reviews Counted: 131
Fresh: 68 | Rotten: 63
Despite striking a believable rapport among its principal actors, Four Brothers overwhelms with ultra-violent, vigilante-glorifying action and devolves into too many fractured, insubstantial thematic directions.
Average Rating: 5.4/10
Critic Reviews: 33
Fresh: 16 | Rotten: 17
Despite striking a believable rapport among its principal actors, Four Brothers overwhelms with ultra-violent, vigilante-glorifying action and devolves into too many fractured, insubstantial thematic directions.
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Average Rating: 3.7/5
User Ratings: 367,861
My Rating
Movie Info
Four men come together to find out how and why the woman who raised them was killed in this hard-edged urban drama from director John Singleton. Short-tempered Bobby (Mark Wahlberg), struggling musician Jack (Garrett Hedlund), streetwise Angel (Tyrese Gibson), and hard-working Jeremiah (Andre Benjamin) are four guys who don't appear to have much in common, in terms of either race or temperament. However, these men have one very important bond -- all four were adopted and raised by the same woman
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Cast
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Mark Wahlberg
Bobby Mercer -
Tyrese Gibson
Angel Mercer -
André Benjamin
Jeremiah Mercer -
Garrett Hedlund
Jack Mercer -
Terrence Howard
Lt. Green -
Josh Charles
Detective Fowler -
Sofía Vergara
Sofi -
Fionnula Flanagan
Evelyn Mercer -
Chiwetel Ejiofor
Victor Sweet -
Taraji P. Henson
Camille Mercer -
Barry Shabaka Henley
Councilman Douglas -
Jernard Burks
Evan -
Kenneth Welsh
Robert Bradford -
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All Critics (144) | Top Critics (36) | Fresh (69) | Rotten (66) | DVD (23)
Unremarkably schizophrenic -- half gritty sojourn into the inner-city furnace, half Hollywood brain death.
Top CriticFour Brothers is a violent, macho story with a perfect feel for the dynamics between four tough guys who will do anything for each other.
As long as the action snaps and the violence feels (somewhat) righteous, there'll always be a place for movies such as Four Brothers -- on rainy Saturdays, on TNT.
If Four Brothers spent half as much energy making us feel something for its heroes as it spent making us feel nothing for their victims, it would be a far better, and far more engaging, film.
Loud, stupid, unrealistic, overdone, without a thought in its ugly little head and kind of enjoyable.
The sometimes absurd Brothers works only on a larger-than-life level. But on that level, the zest is back.
Feels like a nervous student's heavily footnoted thesis film.
Four Brothers tries to mix the revenge quest with the drama of the four boys finding and learning about each other again. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't.
A rowdy, brutal revenge movie -- not for kids.
...a welcome throwback to the sort of over-the-top actioners that were prevalent twenty years ago.
Adds a uniquely repugnant concept to the notion of dysfunctional, in what seems like a warped underlying fraternal creed of, a family that preys together stays together.
Adds a uniquely repugnant concept to the notion of dysfunctional, in what seems like a warped underlying fraternal creed of, a family that preys together stays together.
A healty mixture of action, humor and sentiment...one of the most sheerly enjoyable popcorn movies of the summer.
Audience Reviews for Four Brothers
Super Reviewer
This is a slick urban drama filled with grit, intensity, and a bit of humor as well. Were it not for their adopted mother, these four guys would have nothing in common, but they do make for an interesting bowl of personality stew. Mark Wahlberg is the short-tempered Bobby, Garrett Hedlund is the struggling punk rocker Jack, Tyrese Gibson plays street-wise Angel, and the only seemingly normal one, the hard working Jeremiah, is portrayed by Andre Benjamin. Fionnula Flanagn is the thread that holds them all together.
Other roles include Terrence Howard as a cop on the case, pre-fame Sofia Vergara as Angel's lady, and Chiwetel Ejiofor as a rather shady hood.
The performances are pretty decent, better than expected for this sort of thing, and everyone mostly seems to mesh pretty well. The pacing and atmosphere are pretty good, the cinematography is well-executed, and the action, when it happens, is great too, a big shootout in particular being a major highlight.
All in all, this is far better than is has a right to be, and that actually makes me happy. This is proof that Singleton didn't lose all of his talent after Boyz n the Hood. Give this one a watch- it's pretty satisfying.
Super Reviewer
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- Jack Mercer: [over Evelyn's financial matter's] How much do we get?
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- Evan: He said hurry the fuck up. Then he hung up.
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- Jack Mercer: [chasing someone down a hallway] Hey kid! No running in the halls!
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- Victor Sweet: You don't pay a ho to fuck you. You pay her to leave.
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- Bobby Mercer: What about me, Green? You gonna arrest me too?
- Lt. Green: That depends, Bobby. You keeping strait?
- Bobby Mercer: Strait-ish.
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- Jeremiah Mercer: Evelyn was in this city for a long time. She saw a lot that was terrible, but she stayed hopeful. She still believed that things were getting better, sometimes despite all evidence. And that's a hard thing to do, stay hopeful. Even when you can't find a reason.
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Latest News on Four Brothers
January 14, 2010:
Paramount Plans Four Brothers SequelMark Wahlberg has an idea for a "Four Brothers" sequel, and Paramount is listening.
March 22, 2007:
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August 24, 2006:
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