The fatal flaw of John Singleton's latest and most mainstream offering is an off-the-rails narrative that adds up to one giant 'Huh?'
Four Brothers (2005)
Tomatometer
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Reviews Counted:125
Fresh:65
Rotten:60
Average Rating:5.7/10
Consensus: 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.
Rated: R [See Full Rating] for strong violence, pervasive language and some sexual content
Runtime: 1 hr 49 mins
Genre: Action/Adventure
Theatrical Release:Aug 12, 2005 Wide
Box Office: $74,484,168
Synopsis: When their beloved foster mother is killed in a holdup, four tough brothers reunite in their old Detroit neighborhood with revenge on their minds. Mark Wahlberg plays the brawl-hungry leader,... When their beloved foster mother is killed in a holdup, four tough brothers reunite in their old Detroit neighborhood with revenge on their minds. Mark Wahlberg plays the brawl-hungry leader, Bobby. His brother, Angel (Tyrese Gibson), is a rowdy sailor with a high-strung Latina girlfriend (Sofi Vergara). Garrett Hedlun plays the young rock & roller of the clan. And Outkast's Andre 3000 is the family man whose tenuous mob connection may link him to the killers. Director John Singleton ably blends his action skills (SHAFT, 2 FAST 2 FURIOUS) and his gift for capturing the warm heart at the center of violent urban masculinity (BABY BOY, BOYZ N THE HOOD) to create a cooked-to-perfection gangsta stew. A soundtrack jammed with 1970s Motown classics roots everything firmly in the gritty tradition of the best of that decade's blaxploitation and urban revenge thrillers. Action highlights include a skidding car chase through snowy streets, some rough street hockey, and a bullet-intensive neighborhood shoot-out. With its talented, likeable cast, clever plotting, and sharp dialogue, this is a real crowd-pleaser that nonetheless doesn't shy away from depictions of street violence. There's not an ounce of fat on it--no extraneous romance, and no going "straight" at the end. Terrence Howard (HUSTLE & FLOW) is the well-meaning but ineffectual detective who tries to put a lid on the boys' rebelliousness. The spirits of Dirty Harry and Charles Bronson should be proud, and action fans will be well pleased. [More]
Starring: Mark Wahlberg, Tyrese Gibson, André Benjamin, Garrett Hedlund
Starring: Mark Wahlberg, Tyrese Gibson, André Benjamin, Garrett Hedlund, Terrence Howard, Josh Charles, Chjwetel Ejiofor, Paul Stewart
Director: John Singleton
Director: John Singleton
Screenwriter: David Elliott, Paul Lovett
Producer: Lorenzo Di Bonaventura
Composer: David Arnold
Studio: Paramount Pictures
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Reviews for Four Brothers
The main reason this films works so well is that Singleton has assembled an excellent cast to play the brothers.
Singleton, whose feature film career got off to a terrific start with Boyz N the Hood (1991), delivers this proficiently made factory job with some snap.
Squandering the sex appeal and easy fraternity among its four leads, Four Brothers pitches violently between moments that are at once warm and raw.
Brothers is a faux-low-budget revenge thriller, pure and simple. There's nothing special about it, and that's what's refreshing.
If it's hardcore, blood-spattered vengeance you want, Four Brothers the summer movie for you.
Director John Singleton ratchets up the violence to mixed results: Sometimes it heightens the action, other times it's cartoonish.
A rousing revenge flick that delivers the goods with a mixture of tight action, vivid performances and an old-school soundtrack that evokes the best of blaxploitation cinema.
Four Brothers has an elaborate plot, whose elements are unsatisfactorily pieced together between action sequences.
It's entertaining, in an unabashedly cheesy, proudly retro sort of way.
Moment to moment, the mood flips from crime drama to weird high jinks; the boys spend so much time wearing their mother's clothing and playfully accusing each other of being gay that it's not clear they really care about solving the mystery.
If you can overcome the graphic nature of its casual violence, it is a lot of fun.
Four Brothers begins with four-star potential, but director John Singleton's latest bullet ballet quickly degrades from taut family drama to sloppy action overdose.
Singleton [is] no Tarantino, which is the sensibility needed to make the script's darkly comic tone work.
Four Brothers is an unapologetic anachronism, and one that doesn’t require a whole lot of thought...
Wait for it on television and you won’t hate yourself quite as much in the morning.
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