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"FOUR BROTHERS" (2005) (Mark Wahlberg, Tyrese Gibson) (R) Alcohol/ Drugs Blood/Gore Disrespectful/ Bad Attitude Frightening/ Tense Scenes Guns/ Weapons Heavy Heavy Extreme Moderate Extreme Imitative Behavior Jump Scenes Music (Scary/Tense) Music (Inappropriate) Profanity Moderate None Heavy None Extreme Sex/ Nudity Smoking Tense Family Scenes Topics To Talk About Violence Heavy Mild Heavy Moderate Extreme QUICK TAKE: Drama: Four adopted brothers band together to find and enact revenge on those responsible for their mother's murder. PLOT: When Evelyn Mercer (FIONNULA FLANAGAN) is murdered in a convenience store robbery, her adult adoptive sons reunite in their hometown of Detroit to attend her funeral and settle her estate. Bobby (MARK WAHLBERG) is a former hockey player who never made it to the pros and seems the most affected by her death. Ex-hustler and military man Angel (TYRESE GIBSON) is happy to be back home since that means he'll get to see his former girlfriend Sofi (SOFIA VERGARA). Youngest son Jack (GARRETT HEDLUND) is a gay musician, while Jeremiah (ANDRE BENJAMIN) is the only sibling who remained in Detroit where he's settled down with wife Camille (TARAJI P. HENSON), dabbled in business real estate and sworn off the brothers' earlier rambunctious and troublemaking ways. Their childhood friend turned cop Lt. Green (TERRENCE HOWARD) suspiciously eyes their reunion, but he has a vested interest in solving their mother's murder since he spent many a day in her home with the others. After going through the normal grieving period, Bobby, Angel and Jack decide they want to find their mother's killer and deliver their own form of justice on them. Jeremiah isn't keen on the idea, and once they've started their detective work, Green and his partner Fowler (JOSH CHARLES) want the siblings to leave such matters to them, but the brothers can't. They eventually come to the realization that the murder may have involved local crime boss Victor Sweet (CHIWETEL EJIOFOR) who was indirectly involved in some of Jeremiah's business attempts and whose influence spreads throughout the community and even to various authority figures. As the brothers continue their investigation and go after him, they run the risk of becoming just as bad as those they're after in the name of revenge. WILL KIDS WANT TO SEE IT? If they're into gritty urban dramas/revenge flicks or are fans of someone in the cast, they just might. WHY THE MPAA RATED IT: R For strong violence, pervasive language and some sexual content. CAST AS ROLE MODELS: MARK WAHLBERG plays the hot-headed brother and former hockey player who's most set on avenging their mother's death. He uses strong profanity, drinks, and beats up and kills people as he vows to get to the source of the problem. TYRESE GIBSON plays his brother, an ex-hustler and military man who also beats up and kills others in that quest, uses strong profanity and fools around with Sofi. ANDRE BENJAMIN plays the only brother who stayed in their hometown who's settled down with a wife and tried to lead a normal life. He uses strong profanity and appears questionable about his possible inadvertent involvement with his mom's death. GARRETT HEDLUND plays the youngest adopted brother who smokes (including pot once), uses strong profanity, drinks, and apparently is gay. TERRENCE HOWARD plays a former acquaintance of the brothers who's now a cop working their mother's and other's cases. He uses strong profanity and warns the brothers to stay out of police business. JOSH CHARLES plays his partner who doesn't like the brothers, uses strong profanity and turns bad. SOFIA VERGARA plays a former girlfriend of Angel's who hooks up with him and stays at the guy's place. She has sex with Angel, uses strong profanity and is quite demanding of him in an over-the-top fashion. TARAJI P. HENSON plays Jeremiah's wife who's concerned that he might return to his siblings' former ways once she realizes their vengeful ways. CHIWETEL EJIOFOR plays the local crime boss who's responsible for various deaths and wants to kill the Mercer brothers. He uses strong profanity and treats his underlings badly as well. FIONNULA FLANAGAN plays the brother's murdered mother who adopted and tried to raise them with the proper sense of right and wrong. She briefly uses some profanity. CAST, CREW, & TECHNICAL INFO HOW OTHERS RATED THIS MOVIE Curious if this title is entertaining, any good, and/or has any artistic merit? Then read OUR TAKE of this film. (Note: The "Our Take" review of this title examines the film's artistic merits and does not take into account any of the possibly objectionable material listed below). OUR WORD TO PARENTS: The following is a brief summary of the content found in this R-rated drama. Profanity consists of at least 66 "f" words, while plenty of other expletives and colorful phrases are also uttered. Sexually related dialogue (some of it explicit) is present, as is a partially seen sexual encounter on a dryer. A man's bare butt is seen out of the shower (another's is partially visible) while a poster shows a woman bent over in a thong, a guy briefly worries that he might have VD, and a character is noted as being gay (disparaging remarks are made about him by his brother). Other bad attitudes are present, including from the head villains and his minions who are responsible for various deaths (by shootings) and attempted murder (including a big/long gun battle). Other deaths and fighting are present and a man falls from the outside of a building, severely injuring his leg, while a group of brothers go on a violence-filled vendetta to find out who killed their mother. Some of that violence has rather bloody/gory results, while those scenes and other moments may be unsettling or suspenseful to some viewers. Tense family material involves various familial deaths. Various characters drink and/or smoke, while one briefly smokes pot. Other potentially imitative behavior is also present. If you're still concerned about the film and its appropriateness for yourself or anyone else in your home who may be interested in seeing it, we suggest that you take a closer look at our detailed listings for more specific information regarding the film's content. For those prone to visually induced motion sickness, there's some jumpy camerawork during a long gun battle scene. ALCOHOL OR DRUG USE We hear that Angel is an ex-hustler (although that's not clearly defined). Jack rolls and then smokes a joint. During thanksgiving dinner, Jack and Bobby have beer in front of them. Jack and Bobby drink beer in a dilapidated building, with the latter throwing his bottle aside when he's done. The four brothers and their bartender drink a toast to their late mom. They then do more drinking (Jack and Bobby have beer, Angel and Jeremiah have drinks) in the bar where others also drink. When Jack says he could drink the others under the table, one of them jokes that they're talking whiskey, not sperm. People drink at an illegal gathering (they all scatter when they think the approaching brothers are cops). Miscellaneous people drink in a club. Miscellaneous people drink with Victor. Bobby and Jack have beer. Victor and others drink. Miscellaneous people drink in a bar. Fowler has wine. BLOOD/GORE We hear the sound of Jack urinating. We see a very bad looking leg wound on a guy who's fallen several stories to the cold ground. The wound is bloody and it appears that we see bone sticking out from it. We see a police scene where various filled body bags are present (we don't see the actual bodies). We see some blood on Bobby's arm from where some dogs earlier attacked him. We see Bobby sitting on the toilet (we see the side of his bare butt) when Angel enters and reacts to the smell. A man's shirt is very bloody after being shot and we then see a lot of blood come from his mouth. We see blood on the shirt of a man who's been shot. A person is shot in the leg (with blood squirting out) and then in the chest (with more blood out and then on his shirt). A man has blood on his teeth after being beaten. We see quick shots of various cops hitting the brothers while interrogating them and Bobby has a lot of blood in his mouth from that, while Angel has a little bit of a bloody lip. DISRESPECTFUL/BAD ATTITUDE Victor and all who work for him have extreme cases of bad attitudes. Those who murdered Evelyn and a convenience store clerk obviously have extreme cases of bad attitudes and one makes a racially based comment to the clerk (a man of another ethnicity) before killing him. Bobby teases (not always in a nice way) Jack about being gay, including in one moment of duress calling him "You little fairy." The brothers take the law into their own hands rather than allowing the police to do so. We see that a boy has tried to shoplift (but Evelyn reprimands him for that). The three brothers lie to Lt. Green and Fowler about their involvement in two murders the night before. Bobby makes some disparaging jokes about Sofi being Hispanic. Thinking Sofi is acting crazy, Angel tells her "Put the cuckoo back in the clock." We hear talk that Jeremiah got mixed in with gangsters in his business pursuits, and for a while it seems that he might have something to do with his mother's death since he collects her life insurance policy without telling the others (and they get progressively suspicious of him). We see that a councilman is in cahoots with Victor. After Victor asks about a subordinate's girlfriend (who he refers to as a "fine piece of ass"), he tells the man to leave town, saying he'll teach her a few (sexual) things, that she's too much woman for the subordinate and that he has to share her with him. Suspicious of Jeremiah about their mother's death, Bobby punches him to the floor and then kicks him back down there when Jeremiah tries to get up. A bad cop shoots a good cop several times, killing him. He then calls in a fake report to HQ, saying some black guys killed him and fires several shots so that HQ hears them. Victor refers to a woman as being a "hot Puerto Rican piece of p*ssy." We see quick shots of various cops hitting the brothers while interrogating them, and Bobby has a lot of blood in his mouth from that, while Angel has a little bit of a bloody lip. FRIGHTENING SCENES Scenes listed under "Violence" or "Blood/Gore" may be unsettling or suspenseful to some viewers. Two masked thugs rob a convenience store at gunpoint. One shoots the clerk dead and they then hear Evelyn hiding in the store. We then see flashes from their shots (seen from outside the store). The brothers chase after a guy they think might be a suspect. He quickly ducks into an elevator (hurriedly trying to get the door to close) and then up to his place where he tries to get inside before they arrive. Bobby is there, brandishing his gun and the man lets out two large dogs that then attack Bobby until Angel chases them away by shooting them with a fire extinguisher. The man then ties off a rope and tries to go down the outside of his building (several stories up) and then shoots at Bobby and Angel who fire back at him. One then cuts that rope and the man falls several stories where he lands hard on the ground on his back (he's injured and they threaten to leave him out in the cold where he'll certainly die if he doesn't give them some names). A car chase and shootout occurs on a snowy winter night. The brothers' car slides and slams into another car and sideswipes more, while the escapees shoot at them and Angel fires back and hits one of them. Bobby then purposefully drives into their car, followed by more shooting from both parties at each other. Bobby then gets up alongside the other car and there's some bumping and crashing, finally culminating in Bobby ramming the car, causing it to roll several times. Bobby and Angel then get out, and repeatedly strike the men before repeatedly shooting and killing them (we don't see the impact of the latter). In two scenes, the brothers use the threat of lighting gasoline to intimidate suspects (once on people, another on a man's car with him in it). A big gun battle scene may be intense/suspenseful for some viewers. GUNS/WEAPONS Handguns/Machine guns: Carried and/or used to threaten, wound or kill others. See "Violence" for details. We see/hear part of a 21-gun salute at a funeral. IMITATIVE BEHAVIOR Phrases: "Heavyweight champion f*ckup of the family," "First-class f*ckup," "Get the f*ck out of here," "Put your f*cking hands up," "Sit the f*ck down," "Shut the f*ck up," "What the f*ck /is wrong with you?" "F*cking lucky," "F*cked up," "You don't pay a whore to f*ck you...you pay her to leave," "Get the f*ck out of my seat," "Hurry the f*ck up," "Are you bullsh*tting me?" "You're full of sh*t," "Sh*t-hole," "Oh sh*t," "Two sh*ts," "Sh*tty ass," "This is bullsh*t," "No sh*t," "Sh*t-head," "I ain't telling you sh*t," "Lap that sh*t up good," "Important sh*t," "No sh*t," "Holy sh*t," "I sh*t you not," "You dumb sh*t," "Nasty sh*t," "Are you still sucking a little c*ck?" "You're such a p*ssy," "Ask the c*ckologist," "Hot Puerto Rican piece of p*ssy," "Banging" (sex), "Fine piece of ass," "You're mother was a whore," "Shut up," "Cracker jack," "Punks," "Freaking," "Jar-head," "Black ass," "Big ass," "The hell with this," "Ladies" (said to men by a man), "(House) Nigger" (said by black characters), "Ass-cracking," "Ball sack," "Why are you acting like such a bitch?" (said by a guy to another guy), "One hell of an ass whooping," "By your damn self," "Shut your mouth bitch," "Bastard," "Put the cuckoo back in the clock," "Clowns," "You little fairy," "Raising hell," "A damn beautiful sound," "Dumb ass" and "Get your ass up." One of the guys jokes that a cop couldn't "find t*ts in a strip joint." Jack, Bobby, Angel and even Evelyn have various styles of tattoos on their bodies. Jack and Bobby drink beer in a dilapidated building, with the latter throwing his bottle aside when he's done. We see miscellaneous women in midriff-revealing tops. When Fowler shows that he has what he thinks is Bobby's hair from a murder scene, Bobby snidely responds that it's a hair from the cop's "wife's t*t." Victor makes a subordinate eat off the floor (as a way of putting him in his place and showing others he's in control). He then makes a woman join him in doing so. In two scenes, the brothers use the threat of lighting gasoline to intimidate suspects (once on people, another on a man's car with him in it). We see a guy with a pierced tongue. JUMP SCENES None. MUSIC (SCARY/TENSE) A heavy amount of suspenseful and action-oriented music plays in the film. MUSIC (INAPPROPRIATE) None. PROFANITY At least 66 "f" words (8 used with "mother," 3 used sexually as are several uses of "banging"), 65 "s" words, 5 slang terms using male genitals ("c*ck," "d*ck" and "tool"), 2 using female ones ("p*ssy"), 2 for breasts ("t*ts"), 29 asses (1 used with "hole"), 14 hells, 8 damns, 1 crap, 1 S.O.B., 7 uses of "G-damn" and 1 use each of "Jesus," "Jesus Christ," "My God," "Oh my God" and "Swear to God." SEX/NUDITY One of the guys jokes that a cop couldn't "find t*ts in a strip joint." Bobby asks Jack if he's still "sucking a little c*ck." In the background of a shot, we see a poster of a woman bent over with her thong-covered butt facing the camera (thus most of the skin is bare). Joking about Sofi having another man, Bobby taunts Angel with the notion that "she has hard d*ck in her right now." We see a shot of Angel and Sofi running along outside (she in her bra and panties) as her husband/boyfriend drives after and shoots at them. Angel jokes that something in a dilapidated building looks like breasts. The term "ass cracking" may be used as a homosexual term. When Jack says he could drink the others under the table, one of them jokes that they're talking whiskey, not sperm. We see Angel heading up the stairs with Sofi, who's giggling (presumably about going up there to fool around). We see miscellaneous cleavage. When Fowler shows that he has what he thinks is Bobby's hair from a murder scene, Bobby snidely responds that it's a hair from the cop's "wife's t*t." Victor states that "you don't pay a whore to f*ck you, you pay her to leave." Classic style statues in a club show bare breasts and butts. We see miscellaneous cleavage. We see Sofi sitting on the clothes dryer (it's on and she's clothed but sitting there with her legs spread), with her telling Angel that it's just like when they were 16. Moments later, we see them having sex there, with her seated on the dryer and him between her legs. There's movement and her sounds, but no nudity. Sofi shows some cleavage. Sofi is upset with Angel after finding a roll of condoms (in their packages) and we see her holding them. Mad at Angel, Sofi says to him (what sounds like), "You want to f*ck outside? Let's f*ck outside." An older man states that he was dating Evelyn and tells Bobby that he has some of her "night things." We see Bobby sitting on the toilet (we see the side of his bare butt) when Angel enters and reacts to the smell. Angel then exposes himself to Bobby (his back is to the camera, so we don't see anything) and says that he has "rust on the tool" (apparently thinking it's VD). Bobby then says to show it to the "c*cktologist," referring to Jack who's in the shower in the same bathroom. He states that it's just rug burn, and when he gets out of the shower, we briefly see his bare butt before he wraps himself in a towel. After Victor asks about a subordinate's girlfriend (who he refers to as a "fine piece of ass"), he tells the man to leave town, saying he'll teach her a few (sexual) things, that she's too much woman for the subordinate and that he has to share her with him. Victor refers to a woman as being a "hot Puerto Rican piece of p*ssy." To goad his police interrogator, Bobby jokes that he was "banging that pretty little wife of yours." Jeremiah makes a similar comment and the sexual term "banging" is used again. SMOKING Jack smokes a number of times, while some miscellaneous smoking is also present. TENSE FAMILY SCENES The adult brothers must deal with their mother's death (we see them at the funeral and then back at her house, looking through her stuff and then imagining her at the dinner table correcting their manners, etc.). Two of the brothers find their adoptive papers in their mother's lock box. Three of the brothers watch the surveillance videotape of the convenience store thugs confronting their mother before shooting her dead (no gore). The three brothers get suspicious of Jeremiah and his possible involvement (direct or not) in their mother's death. The brothers must deal with one of their siblings being shot and then dying. TOPICS TO TALK ABOUT The brothers take the law into their own hands rather than allowing the police to do so. Deaths of parents. Revenge. Adoption -- the four brothers (of two races) are adopted. Angel worries that he might have VD (Jack says it's just rug burn). Being gay and how others react to you. VIOLENCE Two masked thugs rob a convenience store at gunpoint. One shoots the clerk dead and they then hear Evelyn hiding in the store. We then see flashes from their shots (seen from outside the store). We see a shot of Angel and Sofi running along outside (she in her bra and panties) as her husband/boyfriend drives after and shoots at them (played somewhat for comedy). There's some playful roughhousing and struggling between Jeremiah and Angel. There's some purposeful body checking and other such contact during a hockey montage. After Jack asks a lawyer how much money they get, Bobby slaps Jack on the back of the head. Bobby, Angel and Jack accost a local thug, pushing him around and acting menacingly toward him and others. They pour what's presumably gasoline on him (and he's gagged) and others as a means of intimidation. Bobby then punches this guy, does so again and then Angel hits him. Three of the brothers watch the surveillance videotape of the convenience store thugs confronting their mother before shooting her dead (no gore). Trying to track down the killers, Bobby interrupts a basketball game by walking out onto the court during play. One guy rushes him, but Bobby punches him to the floor and pulls out his gun to get everyone's attention. The brothers chase after a guy they think might be a suspect. He quickly ducks into an elevator (hurriedly trying to get the door to close) and then up to his place where he tries to get inside before they arrive. Bobby is there, brandishing his gun and the man lets out two large dogs that then attack Bobby until Angel chases them away by shooting them with a fire extinguisher. The men then ties off a rope and tries to go down the outside of his building (several stories up) and then shoots at Bobby and Angel who fire back at him. One then cuts that rope and the man falls several stories where he lands hard on the ground on his back (he's injured and they threaten to leave him out in the cold where he'll certainly die if he doesn't give them some names). A man shoots at three of the brothers when they enter a bar and pushes others down as he flees. The brothers then shoot back at him and others who flee. That leads to a car chase and shootout on a snowy winter night. The brothers' car slides and slams into another car and sideswipes more, while the escapees shoot at them and Angel fires back and hits one of them. Bobby then purposefully drives into their car, followed by more shooting from both parties at each other. Bobby then gets up alongside the other car and there's some bumping and crashing, finally culminating in Bobby ramming the car, causing it to roll several times. Bobby and Angel then get out, and repeatedly strike the men before repeatedly shooting and killing them (we don't see the impact of the latter). Bobby breaks some glass in a door to enter a suspect's house illegally. Bobby pins an older man out on the snowy ground and whacks him on his bare belly, as does Angel. Victor starts to choke a guy with the man's tie. Suspicious of Jeremiah, Bobby punches him to the floor and then kicks him back down there when Jeremiah tries to get up. After explaining himself, he then pushes Bobby back and then punches Angel in the face. After being hit in the face with a snowball, one of the brothers chases after the attacker who flees for a moment before turning and shooting the brother in the chest. A massive gun battle then breaks out between that shooter and his associates and the three brothers still left in the house that's then riddled with machine gun fire. Bobby ends up shooting several of the assailants with his shotgun, while Jeremiah grabs and repeatedly stabs another with a kitchen knife when that man tries to sneak inside. Angel also shoots one. When he's out of ammo, Bobby grabs a large rock and throws it at another assailant, hitting him in the face. Bobby then proceeds to pummel that guy down on the street. Angel then sees that one of the wounded men is reaching for a machine gun to shoot Bobby, so he jumps out the second story window and kicks the gun from the man's hand. A van then races toward them in the street, but Jeremiah drives a car into that van. Bobby then confronts the driver and shoots him dead (we hear but don't see the impact). Realizing a cop is corrupt, Lt. Green whacks him with a billiards stick and then holds his gun on him. A bad cop shoots a good cop several times, killing him. He then calls in a fake report to HQ, saying some black guys killed him and fires several shots so that HQ hears them. Angel wraps a clear plastic bag over a corrupt cop's head, slowly suffocating him, but then lets him loose (although he holds his gun on him). The cop quickly turns the tables, however, by disarming and pinning Angel to the floor and holding the gun back on him. After Angel confuses him about the truth regarding police who've gathered outside, the cop takes Angel hostage and exits the building. He then shoots at another cop, causing others to open fire on him, first hitting him on the leg (with blood squirting out) and then in the chest (with more blood out and then on his shirt). Victor and Bobby engage in a fistfight out on a frozen lake while others watch. They exchange punches to the face and body, followed by Victor trying to choke Bobby down on the ice. Bobby, however, elbows Victor in the chest, and then delivers hard punches to him. Others then throw Victor down into a hole already cut in the ice (he presumably dies). We see quick shots of various cops hitting the brothers while interrogating them and Bobby has a lot of blood in his mouth from that, while Angel has a little bit of a bloody lip. We see a fight during a hockey game. Reviewed August 3, 2005 / Posted August 12, 2005

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