LuminoMagazine.com - "Four Brothers" an entertaining ride

"Four Brothers" an entertaining ride

Written by ALAN SIMONIS

Friday, 12 August 2005

Having to review a film like “Four Brothers” is the perfect example of why I enjoy Lumino’s separate Entertainment and Art star ratings. While this movie is formulaic, gratuitously violent, vulgar, exploitative in its depiction of its characters, and generally artistically bankrupt (the 1.5 stars are mostly for the sweet soundtrack), it does all those things in a really entertaining way.

“Four Brothers”

Entertainment

Art

Directed by John Singleton
Written by David Elliot and Paul Lovett
Starring Mark Wahlberg, Tyrese Gibson, and Andre Benjamin
Rated R for strong violence, pervasive language and some sexual content.
Released Aug. 12, 2005

“Four Brothers” is director John Singleton’s latest homage to the exploitation films of the 70’s (the first being his remake of the standard bearer of exploitation cinema, “Shaft”). True to the genre, it doesn’t have much in the way of a plotline; it’s pretty much a standard revenge story. The titular four brothers, Bobby (Mark Wahlberg), Angel (Tyrese Gibson), Jeremiah (Andre Benjamin), and Jack (Garrett Hedlund) Mercer are drawn back to their childhood home in Detroit after their former foster mother is killed in an apparent liquor store robbery.

However, as one might expect, things are not all that they seem: local hoods are involved in a scheme of some sort, as are corrupt cops, politicians, and lawyers. There is some attempt at creating a mystery over which people might be involved, but ultimately that’s not what the filmmakers are trying to accomplish. This flick is all about the body count, which it pursues with “Death Wish”-like zeal.

There are plenty of shootings, car crashes abound, one guy is dropped from a building, dogs are sicced, several people are threatened with immolation… you get the idea. This is a film that is well versed in the methods of violence. There is a degree of sex in the movie, mostly supplied by Angel’s girl Sofi (Sofia Vergara). Make no mistake though- this one will have the big V on the ratings logo when it hits the tube.

However, it’s not really violence just for violence sake that marks “Four Brothers.” The graphic content is merely one aspect of the movie, and is part of a larger hyper-macho, alpha male attitude the filmmakers are attempting to convey. Much like in the exploitation films that serve as “Four Brothers” inspiration, the lead characters are all variants on the typical action hero archetype: brooding, play by their own rules rebels who shoot first and ask questions later. Occasionally the cast and crew stumble into unfortunate territory, as the main characters (particularly Wahlberg’s Bobby) lapse into various prejudices (homophobia, misogyny, and even some vaguely racist attitudes) during their tough guy posturing.

Of the brothers, Jeremiah is probably the one who most successfully breaks the macho mold. Benjamin plays him as the thoughtful one of the brood, which eventually makes him the target of suspicion by the more reactionary family members. As in “Be Cool” Benjamin is one of the highlights of “Four Brothers”- when Big Boi told us Andre “went to do a little actin’,” he wasn’t kidding.

In the end though, “Four Brothers” is mostly harmless; anyone looking for life lessons from this film needs better help than I can muster, other than to say that these guys aren’t the type of people we should want to imitate. Of course, it can be fun to watch them every now and then.

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