| Four Brothers (2005) Cast:Mark Wahlberg, Tyrese ,Andre 3000, Garrett Hedlund, Josh Charles,Chiwetel Ejiofor Four brothers join forces to avenge the death of their adoptive mother, along the way they find that mobsters were behind the murder and that the cops are in on it in this straight forward but surprisingly enjoyable actioner which is a breath of fresh air when compared to the mindless overkill that's been pumped out lately. Four Brothers doesn't waste any time in depicting the story, a kindly old woman is executed and the robbery is really a hoax. Of course this sets up the initial story of the movie, which finds brothers of different personalities banding together to find the truth. Certainly this is a movie that has been done lots of times and usually with slight variations on the story. However what makes the movie work is that the chemistry of all the stars makes this much more entertaining than one would expect. Indeed the genre of revenge and vigilante justice is a genre that despite being done to death can still manage to be enjoyable if done right. Here the movie is done very well. What is most surprising is that all the stars really sell their characters, especially Marky Mark and Andre 3000 who give the best performances. What also helps is that the movie is laced with lots of humor, mainly from the mobsters. One can't help but smile when the main bad guy mobster forces one of his lackeys (and the lackey's girlfriend) to eat spaghetti off the floor or even funnier when he makes a corrupt senator to sit in the kiddie table due to ratting him out and lying about it. All of this combines to make this one of the better actioners of the year. Admittedly not saying much, but when an actioner comes off as generally entertaining it's quite commendable. D.John Singleton*** |