Dir: John Singleton

Cast: Mark Wahlberg, Andre Benjamin, Tyrese Gibson

From the moment I heard this film was coming out, I was eager to see it. Director John Singleton had a groundbreaking debut with the much-acclaimed Boyz n the Hood, but 2 Fast 2 Furious and Shaft never really reached their expectations.  Likewise, not since the infallible Rock Star, have we seen Mark Wahlberg realize his potential as an actor. Instead, we’ve been tormented by his below par outings in Planet Of The Apes and The Italian Job, so, for me, Four Brothers represented Wahlberg’s chance to shine. I wasn’t disappointed.  This is definitely his best film for a while; it’s a typecast role but he really seemed to thrive on his lines. The best performance of the film, surprisingly perhaps, came from Andre Benjamin a.k.a. Andre 3000 from hip hop chart toppers Outkast. Unlike in Be Cool, he played this role straight ,adding lots of emotion to the part. It was an excellent performance which has given me a thirst to see more of him on the film scene.

    An important note for me in the film was the setting because I actually stayed on 8 Mile in Detroit in February.  Having witnessed the city’s major crackdown on gun crime, I feel Singleton’s film, with all its brutal violence, criminal activity and corrupt police force, gives Detroit a major kick in the teeth by adding to the already common perception that it’s a dangerous place.  But generally, this is a solid action film; it's no Die Hard or Speed, but solid nonetheless. Sure, there’s no tight vested Bruce Willis types walking barefoot over broken glass on the top floor of a skyscrapers. Nor are we treated to outbursts the quality of “Yippee Kiyay'” and “Ho Ho Ho! I have a machine gun!” but the bloody violence is graphic and the action sequences are nothing short of superb.  We even get an edge-of-seat shoot-out and a blizzard ridden car chase composed from some simply breathtaking cinematography. Sadly, as is common with Singleton’s films, the positives often outweigh the negatives and with Four Brothers, this was almost certainly the case.

    Despite an easy to follow script, the plot was distinctly flawed: when their elderly adopted mother gets killed in a grocery store hold-up, her four sons (two black, two white) return home to Detroit to avenge her death. Hothead Bobby (Wahlberg), hardnut Angel (Gibson), family man Jeremiah (Benjamin) and younger brother Jack (Garrett Hedlund) attempt to unravel the trail that led to her cold-blooded murder.  What they don't realize, of course, is just who exactly they’re dealing with... 

Additionally, there were four or five scenes that simply didn't need to be there. Most notably, these were the corny ones in which we see each brother’s separate vision of their adopted mother in the position she would normally sit at the family dinner table. There was also some scenes of needless comedy that, not only ruined the effect of drama, but were just embarrassingly lame. The hip hop score set the tone well throughout yet I felt it often detracted the audiences attention from the dialogue, which was no positive thing.

When you compare every action movie you see to Die Hard it is always going to fall short of your expectations. But despite the corny segments, the needless comedy, distracting music and various plot holes, this film remains a durable action movie. It is worth going to see, just for Andre Benjamin alone. Yippee Kiyay Indeed.

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