Martin Luther King, Jr. once said "We must learn to live together as brothers or perish together as fools." Truer words couldn't be applied to the racially diverse Brothers Mercer. The adopted sons of the late Evelyn Mercer, Bobby (Wahlberg), Angel (Tyrese), Jerry (Andre 3000), and Jack (Hedlund) take their mother's untimely death, and suspicious circumstances surround it, into their own hands in an effective, urban western of sorts.
Evelyn Mercer, a saint amongst sinners in a seedy sector of Detroit, was murdered in cold blood. Having gone their seperate ways over years past, now, in search of answers, and revenge, the crew leaves no stone unturned in their search for the shooters. While the motherly Mercer would have been the first to forgive her would-be assailants, the four brothers apprently never heard that credo. While it looked like an open and shut case, little did they know, the slaying was more personal than they could ever imagine.
"Four Brothers" effectively interjected, amidst the copious gunplay, a message of equality and urgency when applied to something that effects us all. Black, white, Puerto Rican..we're all human, and we all fall upon hard times. Part Western, part revenge movie, and all action. The movie took some solid turns, even going as far as [SPOILER - highlight to read]: suggesting one of the brothers as a turncoat. However, with a little understanding after the suspected brother's inside information, the crew's resolve was only strengthened. While there were some plot holes that were sacrificed for the killer shoot-out scenes, it was typical Western fare..shoot first, ask questions later, naturally.
The movie was rich with incredibly inspired performances, namely Wahlberg and Tyrese Gibson, while both Andre Benjamin and Terrence Howard continue to show real promise. Running the emotional gambit, from sullen sadness to furious rage, I found everyone's performances very gritty, with a credibility of the urban lifestyle Singleton captured in "Boys N The Hood". The dialogue seemed a little contrived at times, making the elder, hardnosed brothers a little more menacing than necessary, explitive diatribes and all, but that's small potatoes in comparison to how well the story unfolded into a solid revenge flick with urban stylings.
Overall, a 7.5/10 for what I would consider John Singleton's 3rd best film yet, behind "Shaft" and "Boyz N The Hood".
Last edited by Cory Chaos on Aug 20th, 2005 at 04:49 AM
I really enjoyed watching this flick.
I liked the story, and especially the banter between brothers.
The gun scene was awesome and I found the movie really funny for some reason.
Finnaly watched this movie today. And i really like it.
The emotion from the actors was spectacular. The acting itself was really good. The story was good! godamnt everything about this movie was damn good.
The action scenes particullary one, had me jumping up and down, and squirming in my seat.
At worst i found the mystery hard to follow from the first half of the movie(but that might just be me).
he first fifteen to twenty minutes of the movie seemed to drag, but it set up alot of character relations,and charactr development for later in the movie, giving the later movie alot more impact.
So all in all the story was solid, the actors were solid, the emotion was solid. The several action scenes within the movie made sense, and didn't just seem like there were there to be action scenes.
9/10 Any other thoughts?
BTW i searched "four brothers" on the KMC google search engine and didn't come up with $hit.
KMC Community Forums
Aug 19th, 2005 01:49 AM
i want to buy it.
