Film Review: FOUR BROTHERS (2005)

Director: John Singleton
Writers: David Elliot, Paul Lovett
Running time: 105 mins (approx)
Certification (UK): 15

Genre: Action/Crime/Drama
UK Release date: 30^th September 2005

Watched on Sky+ Sunday 31^st March 2013.

PLEASE NOTE: THERE MAY BE UNINTENTIONAL SPOILERS IN THIS REVIEW.

This is another of those films that I have a vague recollection of when it came out. I can’t remember how well it was received at the time but I still wanted to give it the once over. It’s quite an interesting film, very gritty and very down to earth; I have to admit I quite liked it. Sadly it seems the critics and many of the public disagree, but hey, we’re all entitled to our opinions. Here’s a very brief summary before I give you my thoughts.

When Evelyn Mercer (Fionnula Flanagan) is killed in what looks like a professional hit her four adopted sons take matters into their own hands. The boys; Bobby (Mark Wahlberg), Angel (Tyrese Gibson), Jeremiah (André Benjamin) and Jack (Garrett Hedlund) are soon tracking down leads. The cops in the guise of Lt. Green (Terrence Howard) and Detective Fowler (Josh Charles) try to curb their enthusiasm but the boys are determined. The clues all point to Victor Sweet (Chiwetel Ejiofor), a gangland leader who does not pull his punches when he’s trying to send a message. When the boys end up on the receiving end of one of his ‘messages’ they take matters into their own hands and you know that’s not going to end well.

The plot is very slow after the initial murder of Evelyn Mercer and this may have put many off. It does, however pick up towards the middle third and by the end it has reached full throttle. The gritty realism of the story is enhanced by the winter scenes on the streets of Detroit. I can’t say I was overly enthused by the choice of music throughout, but then it’s not really my scene man. The performances were all excellent with Mark Wahlberg and Tyrese Gibson taking most of the spotlight, but I thought nobody put a foot wrong throughout. Over all a gritty realistic and sometimes brutal revenge thriller. Maybe a little too slow for some in the beginning but the pace does pick up (I promise).

SteelMonster’s verdict: RECOMMENDED

My score: 7.2/10.

IMDb Score: 6.8/10 (based on 70,231 votes when this review was written).
http://uk.imdb.com/title/tt0430105/

MetaScore: 49/100: (Based on 31 critic reviews provided by Metacritic.com at the time of going to press).

Rotten Tomatoes ‘Tomatometer’ Score: 52/100 (based on 131 reviews counted at the time of going to press).

Rotten Tomatoes ‘Audience’ Score: 55/100 (based on 367,861 user ratings counted at the time of going to press).
http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/four_brothers/

If you’re crazy enough… You can find me on Facebook at:
http://facebook.com/andy.steel3

FAVOURITE QUOTES:
Damian: Call me an ambulance.
Bobby: What? For my Dog bites? Nah, I'll be fine.

Bobby: I wanna make a toast to Evelyn Mercer, the greatest mother four degenerate bastards ever had. Pour me and my brothers another round, and some nice warm milk for my little sister.
Jack: Man, I will drink you under the table.
Bobby: We're not talking about sperm, Jack, this is whiskey.

Bobby: Jack, it was a questionable kill.
Jack: What makes you think that?
Bobby: Boy, it's sad, you growing up without a father. Nobody taught you anything, did they? Maybe I should've stayed around longer and held your little hand, huh sweetheart? Sometimes pros will cover up their shots with another crime, like a burglary or something, then pay a witness to throw the cops onto the wrong suspect.
Jack: Why would anybody wanna kill the sweetest woman in the God-damn world?
Bobby: I dunno, Jackie. I dunno.

Lt. Green: You keep knocking on the devil's door long enough and sooner or later someone's gonna answer you.

LINKS:
(Note: All were working at the time of going to press)
Trailer:

Film Review: TRON LEGACY (2010)

Director: Joseph Kosinski
Running time: 125 mins (approx)
Certification (UK): PG

Genre: Action/Adventure/Sci-Fi
UK Release date: 17^th December 2010

Watched on Sky+ Monday 22^nd August 2011.

PLEASE NOTE: THERE MAY BE SPOILERS IN THIS REVIEW.

I admit I was a fan of the original 1982 film TRON and, despite many poor reviews I was still intrigued to see the updated version. Well, visually, it’s quite stunning, but to be honest, the writers of those many poor reviews did have a point. I did like the music though, even a reprise of the song from the original film; “Separate Ways (Worlds Apart)” by Journey. Most of the original music was produced by Daft Punk, which seemed to fit the technological mood pretty well. But more of my thoughts later, here’s a brief summary first.

Kevin Flynn became a successful businessman at the end of the first film. He later got married and had a son, Sam. Several years later he mysteriously disappeared without a trace. His son, now grown up is disillusioned and refuses to take control of the company that is rightfully his. One of the directors, and friend of his father, Alan Bradley, comes to him one day saying he’s been paged by Kevin. Strangely though, it has come from Kevin’s old games arcade that hasn’t been running for years. Sam goes there and finds Kevin’s old workshop. Turning devices on, he is digitised and downloaded to ‘The Grid’. Now, ‘The Grid’ is run by a program written by Kevin called Clu, who looks like Kevin did 30 years ago. Clu’s mission is to remove any imperfections on ‘The Grid’. Sam is made to play games or risk being killed. He reluctantly plays, but is rescued by the mysterious Quorra. She takes him off ‘The Grid’ to meet his real father. Sam desperately wants to get his father out of there and it’s a race against time to escape the world of TRON. I won’t say any more as I don’t want the Spoiler Police to de-res me.

As I’ve already said, the visuals are quite stunning in this one, I cannot fault most of the CGI. I saw it in 2D so I cannot comment on the 3D-ness of the picture. Decent performances all round; Jeff Bridges did a good job as both Kevin Flynn and Clu, although he was CGI’d as Clu and that didn’t quite work as well as it might. Garrett Hedlund was ok as Sam Flynn, as was Olivia Wilde as Quorra. It was also nice to see Bruce Boxleitner as Alan Bradley and reprising his original role as TRON.

I think the main problem with this film was that it was too much like the original, as far as the story goes. It’s all about getting from one place to another to escape something bad and get home. Very ‘Wizard of Oz’ if you like. Unfortunately, we’re all too familiar with that story and after a while it becomes boring. Yes, the visuals are quite stunning, but that doesn’t make up for a rather predictable an, sadly, dull plot. The dialogue didn’t help matters much either, it was all far too pedestrian I’m afraid… Sadly, the critics were right in this case… Not recommended.

My Score: 5.3/10.

IMDb Score: 7.0/10 (based on 83,476 votes at the time of going to press).
http://uk.imdb.com/title/tt1104001/

Rotten Tomatoes Score: 50/100 (based on 221 reviews counted at the time of going to press).
http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/10011582-TRON_legacy/

FAVOURITE QUOTE:
Quorra: [Quorra is showing Sam the book collection] Just between you and me, Jules Verne is my favourite. Do you know Jules Verne?
Sam Flynn: Sure.
Quorra: What’s he like?

LINKS:
Official Site: http://www.disney.co.uk/tron/index.jsp
Official Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/Tron
Official Twitter: http://twitter.com/#!/TronLegacy
Trailer: