I know....I KNOW! But I swear to you, before I got into the theatre I didn't KNOW that the picture was directed by John Singleton! I should have done my homework but I saw the trailer and thought the picture was about something. It was NOT! It was disjointed, disconnected, the acting was some of the worst I've seen and the story stunk! More about that later. Evelyn Mercer is killed in a grocery store hold up and her four foster-home, delinquent, THUG, adopted sons come to the funeral. Something isn't right and when they go to the scene of the crime and view the surveillance tape (ah, WHY was this tape not in police custody?) of the robbery they can see that it was not random. It was an execution. Why? This sweet and thoughtful lady, from a working class Detroit neighborhood couldn't possibly have any enemies. They set off on a mission to 1) find the killer, 2) KILL the killer and 3) find out WHY. They leave a path of death, destruction and blood through the streets of The Motor City for two hours in a way that would have made Sam Peckinpah proud. Violence and death for the SAKE of violence and death. Look, I love a good action picture, but I set a few standards, like maybe a script or a decent story, or maybe actors who are acting like they want to act in this picture rather than a picture three pictures ago. Mark Wahlberg, normally decent, sucked this time because he was trying to force out lines that were horribly written and seemed that he didn't believe them any more than we believed them. Terrence Howard, who I normally like, seemed like he was thinking "Damn, this Detroit winter sho is cold!" as he forgot to act. There were no standout actors in this picture, mostly stand BACK actors. The story made no sense and had the feel that it was written, maybe on a Saturday afternoon between football games. No depth, no reason, no reality. This was total exploitive bullshit. I am off of John Singleton for life. After "Higher Learning", "Woo", and "Baby Boy" I should have known to check before dropping my matinee money on the counter. Add "Four Brothers" to the above list. RECOMMENDATION: Stay as far away from this trash as you can. I cheered at the end when justice was done, I would have cheered louder for a refund. Total P.A.S! (Piece'a shit) Rated R for extreme violence, and FORCED bad language. (Actually rated R for REAL bad.) TWO WISHIN' I HAD MY MONEY BACK WITH MY HAND ON MY WALLET, THUMBS DOWN! (Way down!) Movie Review © 2005 by Terry Anderson |
