After their adoptive mother is gunned down in a grocery store holdup, the estranged brothers reunite to seek revenge and take matters into their own hands.  Defying police orders, the four begin turning their old Detroit neighborhood upside down searching for the mastermind behind the brutal killing.  Along the way, they discover they are bound by ties thicker than blood.

CRITIQUE

Four Brothers is a revenge story and an urban western, a saga of payback wrapped around the mythos of the spaghetti western.  At its core, this is an interesting film.  The writing and the execution are something else.  The pace is fast and the cast is aiming to please, but the result is by the numbers enough to be yawn inducing.  The actors do well with what they have, but even they cannot mask the impression that they seem bored by the material.

Evelyn Mercer (Fionnula Flanagan) is the neighborhood mom, the old woman who looks after everyone on the block.  She gets little screen time (she is killed in the first scene), but we quickly learn all about her.  She’s an old hippie, still emboldened by that time in her life, and we learn that of all the children she has fostered, the four we follow here are the only lost causes she ever encountered. 

The four brothers – Bobby (Mark Wahlberg), Angel (Tyrese Gibson), Jeremiah (Andre Benjamin), and Jack (Garrett Hedlund) – are caricatures.  Jack is the youngest and most insecure, Jeremiah is the levelheaded one, Bobby is wildly hell-bent on revenge, and Angel is casually hell-bent on revenge.  They flesh out these characters as much as they can, but you can see where this is going.  A brotherly love scene, queue the seventies soul music, followed by an action sequence, queue the seventies soul music, this happens over and over from beginning to end.  The one standout is Chiwetel Ejiofor (Serenity, Dirty Pretty Things) as Victor Sweet.  The character is a cliché, but Ejiofor gives the role a charisma that freshens every scene he is in.  He steals the movie easily.

The film is shot like a western, with lots of wide shots, and all four brothers frequently appear in the same shot.  The barren winter landscape of Detroit, with its air of industrial capital turned to rust, replacing the open mesa.  There are flourishes of style, and the backdrop adds to the atmosphere, even becoming a character unto itself, but it never adds up to anything.

Four Brothers is not a total failure.  There is too much competence on both sides of the camera for that, and it will hold the viewer’s attention for the length of the film.  But there is nothing particularly interesting, not even in its take on an age-old story.  It is as if the film knows it is just going through the motions and just doesn’t care.

THE VIDEO

Four Brothers is presented in the original 2.35:1 aspect ratio.  The transfer is incredibly sharp.  All color levels come through with impeccable clarity.  The warm colors of the family home are vibrant, as are the white levels of the barren winter landscape of Detroit.

THE AUDIO

This DVD offers tracks in English 5.1 Surround, English 2.0 Surround, as well as a French 5.1 Surround track.  The presentation is crisp, from the gunfire to the music that dominates the soundtrack.  All channels come through clearly.

THE EXTRAS

Commentary by Director John Singleton: Singleton talks about creating the mood and the tone of the film, how each scene was shot.  He gives an interesting look into how he works and the shooting conditions of this film.

The Look of Four Brothers: The film’s director of photography Peter Menzies, Singleton, and the cast talk about the cinematography and creating the design of the production.  (10:04)

Crafting Four Brothers: The two writers talk about molding the script around the idea of a modern, urban western and how they sculpted the characters.  (10:54)

Behind the Brotherhood: Singleton and the cast talk about working together and the relationships between the characters.  (9:29)

Mercer House Shootout: Singleton and the FX designer discuss the logistics behind the elaborate shoot-out towards the end of the film.  (4:14)

Deleted Scenes: Nine scenes that wound up on the cutting room floor.

Theatrical Trailer: The original trailer.  (2:32)

FINAL THOUGHTS

Four Brothers is filmmaking by the numbers, but that does not mean it is not entertaining.  The cast is aiming to please, and the direction is confident.  The bonus material is interesting and gives much insight into the making of the film.  This might be fun to watch once, but owning it is another matter.