After a 62-year-old woman is gunned down during a convenience store robbery, her four adopted sons return to their old home for the funeral and soon become determined to hunt down whoever was responsible. The action sequences that follow are well-staged, violent and exciting to watch and the force that drives these men on so powerfully is the intense loyalty and respect that they feel for the only woman who was prepared to take them in and give them a home at a time in their lives when nobody else would.
Evelyn Mercer (Fionnula Flanagan) was the kind-hearted woman who had fostered countless children in Detroit, Michigan before passing them on to their respective adoptive parents. However, four of the boys that she fostered were such troublemakers that they became impossible to place and so she adopted them herself. After her death, the four men who share the same sense of loyalty to their "mother" and each other, reunite and quickly discover that she had, in fact, been murdered and that the local police are inept and certainly not determined enough to bring the culprits to justice. In these circumstances, Bobby (Mark Wahlberg), Angel (Tyrese Gibson), Jeremiah (Andre Benjamin) and Jack (Garrett Hedlund) take matters into their own hands.
As the oldest brother, ex-con Bobby, who's tough and volatile, takes the lead in everything they do. Angel is a womanizing ex-serviceman, Jeremiah has become a businessman with a family of his own and Jack, who was very badly treated before being fostered, has dreams of becoming a rock singer. The brothers soon catch up with the two guys who held up the convenience store and simply execute them when they prove to be unhelpful in identifying who ordered the hit on their mother. Their further investigations reveal that Evelyn had been betrayed by a corrupt cop when he'd informed local crime boss Victor Sweet (Chiwetel Ejiofor) that she'd sought the help of the police to put matters right after Jeremiah had been criminally ripped off by Sweet during a lucrative property deal. This information then gives the brothers' mission added impetus and leads inexorably to a confrontation between Bobby and Victor Sweet during which their differences are finally resolved.
"Four Brothers" is an unpretentious revenge thriller that champions vigilantism and appeals to its audience purely on a visceral level. Its combination of sentimentality and moments of extreme violence inevitably make its pacing problematic but overall, it entertains because of the quality of its action scenes, the brothers' camaraderie (which is so well portrayed) and its great soundtrack which contributes strongly to a distinct 1970s' vibe. The quality of the acting is also generally good with the portrayals of the four brothers and good cop Lieutenant Green (Terrence Howard) making the strongest impressions.
Evelyn Mercer (Fionnula Flanagan) was the kind-hearted woman who had fostered countless children in Detroit, Michigan before passing them on to their respective adoptive parents. However, four of the boys that she fostered were such troublemakers that they became impossible to place and so she adopted them herself. After her death, the four men who share the same sense of loyalty to their "mother" and each other, reunite and quickly discover that she had, in fact, been murdered and that the local police are inept and certainly not determined enough to bring the culprits to justice. In these circumstances, Bobby (Mark Wahlberg), Angel (Tyrese Gibson), Jeremiah (Andre Benjamin) and Jack (Garrett Hedlund) take matters into their own hands.
As the oldest brother, ex-con Bobby, who's tough and volatile, takes the lead in everything they do. Angel is a womanizing ex-serviceman, Jeremiah has become a businessman with a family of his own and Jack, who was very badly treated before being fostered, has dreams of becoming a rock singer. The brothers soon catch up with the two guys who held up the convenience store and simply execute them when they prove to be unhelpful in identifying who ordered the hit on their mother. Their further investigations reveal that Evelyn had been betrayed by a corrupt cop when he'd informed local crime boss Victor Sweet (Chiwetel Ejiofor) that she'd sought the help of the police to put matters right after Jeremiah had been criminally ripped off by Sweet during a lucrative property deal. This information then gives the brothers' mission added impetus and leads inexorably to a confrontation between Bobby and Victor Sweet during which their differences are finally resolved.
"Four Brothers" is an unpretentious revenge thriller that champions vigilantism and appeals to its audience purely on a visceral level. Its combination of sentimentality and moments of extreme violence inevitably make its pacing problematic but overall, it entertains because of the quality of its action scenes, the brothers' camaraderie (which is so well portrayed) and its great soundtrack which contributes strongly to a distinct 1970s' vibe. The quality of the acting is also generally good with the portrayals of the four brothers and good cop Lieutenant Green (Terrence Howard) making the strongest impressions.