Review of new John Singleton movie "Four Brothers", starring Mark Wahlberg.

("Four Brothers" is an action/crime film from Paramount Pictures, starring Mark Wahlberg and directed by John Singleton. The film is rated R for strong violence, pervasive language and some sexual content and is 1 hour and 50 minutes long. It will open in the U.S. August 12.)

Link to "Four Brothers" site: http://www.fourbrothersmovie.com

Trailer: http://www.apple.com/trailers/paramount/four_brothers/large.html

This critic was never a fan of any film John Singleton has directed. The only quality film he has made was 1991’s “Boyz n the Hood”. Since then, all his other films had been mediocre at best. “Four Brothers”, which is scheduled for release in the U.S. on August 12, has been one of his better efforts, although not perfect.

The film focuses on four adopted brothers in Detroit: Bobby (Mark Wahlberg), Angel (Tyrese Gibson) Jeremiah (Andre Benjamin) and Jack (Garrett Hedlund), abandoned and raised in foster care as children. At some point in their childhood, they meet Evelyn (Fionnula Flanagan), a woman who had a big heart for inner-city youth who decided to take them under her arm. She is the only mother the four brothers have ever had.

Late one night, Evelyn is murdered by armed robbers at a convenience store. After the funeral, the four get together at her house where they spend the night. A detective from the Detroit Police meets up with them to investigate the shooting, but they are not helpful as they have absolutely no faith in law enforcement to get to the bottom of this crime. Later, all of the brothers, except Jeremiah, decide that revenge is the only justice they’ll accept and take it upon themselves to find the perpetrators. They return to the scene of the crime where they view a surveillance video of their mother’s last moments and find out from the store owner what the detective didn’t tell them, that someone else from law enforcement had already interviewed a witness for a lengthy period of time. At that point, Bobby concludes that there was a cover-up and suspects that their mother was not the victim of a random shooting, but was actually set up.

Throughout the film, the brothers (without Jeremiah’s blessing) go on an armed rampage at a house party, a basketball game, a housing project and at a restaurant casino looking for the killers. At one point, an insurance claims analyst shows up unexpected at the house. There, it’s discovered that Jeremiah had been helping their mother pay premiums on a life insurance policy neither Bobby, Angel and Jack were aware of, adding to their suspicions. To add to the confusion, the lead detective investigating the case discovers that a separate police report of the murder was made without his knowledge. As the brothers try to learn the identity of the killers, they eventually get caught up in a net of corruption that involves gangsters. Toward the end, the film takes a bit of a stretch when there is an explosive event that would have one think that the police would have reasonable suspicions to make arrests, but they don’t which will have the viewer asking why.

Mr. Wahlberg is superb in the role of Bobby. One would think that Mr. Singleton selected him for the part as it was 15 years ago that he was better known as Marky Mark the rapper. His past reputation as an urban street tough makes him right for this role.

Like all of Mr. Singleton’s films, “Four Brothers” will not be liked by everybody as this film is made from the point of view that institutionalized racism is a fact of life, that authority is rife with corruption and that no one really cares about improving the quality of life in the inner city. Filmgoers may not agree with the message, but at the least, they would need to approach this film with an open mind on Mr. Singleton’s perspective on life in general.