Four Brothers

Four Brothers
by John Singleton

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DVD details

Actor: Andr? Benjamin, Garrett Hedlund, Mark Wahlberg, Terrence Howard, Tyrese Gibson
Director: John Singleton
DVD: Region Code 1
Audio: English (Original Language)
Format: NTSC
Audience Rating: R (Restricted)

DVD Reviews of Four Brothers

DVD Review: A Classic Western Updated
Summary: 5 Stars

Shadow Watcher
Nobody Drowns in Mineral Lake

John Singleton directed this very well done action drama that plays like a modern day version of the old John Wayne movie, THE SONS OF KATIE ELDER.

When their adopted mother is shot down, ostensibly by two gang members, in a convenience store robbery, her four sons return to their Detroit home to attend her funeral and to also see that the killers are brought to justice.

None of these siblings (Mark Wahlberg, Tyrese Gibson, Andre Benjamin, Garrett Hedlund) would qualify as "citizen of the year," and, in fact, some of them have had their own problems with the law.

It doesn't take long for the brothers to discover that Mom was not the victim of a simple hold-up, but was the target of a assassination plot. Now, the quartet has to discover who put out the "contract," and for what reason.

Their heavy-handed investigation turns up the name of a local drug lord, and also exposes some police corruption.

There are some terrific action sequences in this film, particularly a fantastic shootout at the mother's home that leaves a street filled with dead bodies.

Terrence Howard co-stars as an honest cop.

DVD extras include director commentary, deleted scenes and several "Making of" featurettes. One of them shows how the aforementioned shootout was staged.

- Michael B. Druxman, author of ONCE UPON A TIME IN HOLLYWOOD (available December 2008)

DVD Review: Not Nearly as Bad as Everyone Says...
Summary: 4 Stars

Okay, so Four Brothers might not teach the smartest ideals about avenging someone's death. Not to mention these guys never get locked up for their deeds. But that's missing the point.
The movie is a mediation on choosing one path over the other. I don't care how well the brothers were brought up, but they are still street kids, with a penchant for violence and they would rightfully want to avenge their mother's death in the only way they know how. This is illustrated with the wonderful talent of Andre Benjamin, who is reluctant to partake in his brothers' violent ways.
The film is incredibly entertaining, almost too much so, to the point where there are multiple nonsensical scenes merely for entertainment. But that is all okay! It wasn't supposed to win best picture, and it doesn't play to hollywood like many other films do.
The cinematography and locales are superb, and I felt right at home in the blue collar hoods, that actually look similar to what you would find in Denver. The snow really added to the film, and my favorite part was the slippery car chase in a blizzard. Having gone through blizzard after blizzard here in Colorado, I found it very welcoming. And also, many reviewers are saying it was unintentionally funny, when I believe it was intentional. This film is a send up of blaxploitation flicks, a word I have not seen mentioned on this website, and the over the top fight scenes and chase scenes set alongside funk music are meant to inject a certain level of humor.
Don't take this film TOO seriously, and you will have a great time. People are too skeptical these days of everything to begin with. I enjoyed four brothers immensely, and the music and acting was top-notch.
It's also great to see Andre 3000 act in films nowadays.

DVD Review: falls short on credibility
Summary: 3 Stars

The premise of this film is good: four adoptive bothers meet to unravel and then seek revenge for a seemingly meaningless killing in a rough urban scene. The actors are also very good, starting with Wahlberg, who carries an entire environment in the roles he chooses. Unfortunately, as the story unfolds, I felt that it became almost comicbook-like in the way that it cut corners: there is rampaging violence with little consequence, like even taking suspects into the police station for questioning (except when it advances the plot); the characters slowly lose credibility as they take smarter and smarter actions; and the ending has not one but two deus ex machina devices that ruin the remaining realism.

What the film becomes is a kind of shoot'em up cowboy movie, with an icing of realism implied. At that, it isn't too bad, but it is entertainment when it could have been a much much finer film. Not recommended.

DVD Review: Not bad!
Summary: 5 Stars

Average shoot-em up but fun to watch. Acting could have been better.

The delivery of High Def via Blu-ray was excellent!

Amazon's delivery of this product was excellent!

DVD Review: Lame and hard to take seriously
Summary: 1 Stars

I'll be honest I never finished this movie. It was that bad. The trailer is great but this film was more group therapy than anything else. I like the idea of adopted children coming together to find their mother's killer. But it was weak. I think they spent most of their time playing ice hockey than anything else. I got rid of it but I think the main character tried using a gun to get the attention of everyone in the gymnasium. Nobody took him seriously, and neither did I.

Good concept, bad script and actors that tried with what they had.

Description of Four Brothers

Bound by love for their slain adoptive mother, the brothers in Four Brothers form a unique quartet that gives John Singleton's film a razor's edge of redemption. It's a thin edge, to be sure, because while Singleton's urban Western pays homage to the Blaxpoitation films of the '70s (as he did with his remake of Shaft), it walks a fine line of credibility with a mythic vengeance plot (recalling John Wayne's 1965 hit The Sons of Katie Elder) that endorses violence as the last resort of a family under siege. When a saintly foster mother (Fionnula Flanagan) is gunned down in a convenience store, her only adopted sons (two white, two black, played respectively by Mark Wahlberg, Garrett Hedlund, Tyrese Gibson and Andre Benjamin) go after the killers, only to discover that their mother's death was not a random event. As they uncover a sticky web of criminal activity involving a local kingpin (Chiwitel Ejiofor), the character-driven plot races toward an inevitable showdown, with ex-con Wahlberg leading the way. Making excellent use of blue collar locations in Detroit, Singleton keeps the action moving fast enough that the film's lack of realism is easily ignored, and the well-drawn characters (including Terrence Howard as a tenacious detective) lend emotional dimension to an otherwise familiar revenge scenario. Four Brothers is manipulative, but it's filled with grace notes of rugged working-class humanity, and it definitely holds your attention. --Jeff Shannon

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