>>REVIEW
FOUR BROTHERS
STARRING Mark Wahlberg, André Benjamin and Tyrese Gibson
DIRECTED BY John Singleton
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Four Brothers is a violent badass throwback to ’70s revenge melodramas and it’s pretty good. Set in Detroit (shot in Toronto) the film follows four adopted brothers (Mark Wahlberg, André Benjamin, Tyrese Gibson and Garrett Hudlund) who come together to avenge the death of their mother. Wahlberg plays Bobby Mercer, the eldest of the bunch, an ex-con who, after his mother is shot dead in a convenience-store robbery, is determined to get to the bottom of what happened.
Four Brothers will either succeed or fail for audiences depending on their tolerance for melodrama. The bad guys are the baddest, the cops are crooked and the heroes are the anti-type. The film doesn’t do well when set in the real world, but as a genre piece it’s effective. It’s not quite as good as Death Wish, but better than its four sequels. It’s no classic, but in time it’ll be a staple midnight rerun on The Superstation.
John Singleton knows how to make good films – Boyz in the Hood – and he knows how to make crap – Shaft (2000), 2 Fast 2 Furious – and here he really gets the joke. On the page, I’m sure that Four Brothers looked like another action-filled revenge flick with nothing new to say, but by using old-fashioned whip pans and grainy film stock, Singleton adds an esthetic that lends itself to the material quite nicely. Here, a little style goes a long way. In fact, if Singleton had applied this style to his remake of Shaft, it would have been his throwback masterpiece.
The cast also do a fine job with what they have. Benjamin (a.k.a Outkast’s Andre 3000), ex-model Gibson, and Friday Night Lights star Hudlund all turn in solid work, but this is Wahlberg's flick and he chews it up with really big bites. Not a hard thing to do when you’re given the best (or worst depending on your taste) dialogue and the most action in the film. In recent years, Wahlberg has proven himself to be a fine actor and here he is a lot of fun to watch.
Four Brothers is as subtle as a sledgehammer and as deep as a puddle. And so what? It’s entertaining and after a summer of Deuce Bigalow and Stealth, I needed some entertaining. |
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