Movie · 2005 · Action, Crime · 1h 49m · R · English
Curator score: 3.0/10 (288K ratings)
They came home to bury mom... and her killer
Overview
Four adopted brothers return to their Detroit hometown when their mother is murdered and vow to exact revenge on the killers.
Ratings
Curator score: 3.0/10
IMDb: 6.8/10
Letterboxd: 3.24/5
Rotten Tomatoes: 53%
Metacritic: 49
TMDB: 6.8/10
Director
John Singleton
Production
Paramount Pictures, di Bonaventura Pictures
Cast
Mark Wahlberg, Tyrese Gibson, André 3000, Garrett Hedlund, Terrence Howard, Josh Charles, Sofía Vergara, Fionnula Flanagan, Chiwetel Ejiofor, Taraji P. Henson, Barry Shabaka Henley, Jernard Burks, Kenneth Welsh, Tony Nappo, Shawn Singleton, Reiya Downs, Riele Downs, Lyriq Bent, Richard Chevolleau, Awaovieyi Agie
Where to watch
Paramount Plus Premium, Paramount Plus Essential
Curator Review
Verdict
A grim but entertaining revenge crime drama with real momentum, strong Detroit texture, and enough style to keep its pulpy premise afloat. It’s uneven and occasionally blunt, but John Singleton’s direction gives it grit, energy, and a surprising amount of personality.
Best for
fans of revenge thrillers
viewers who like muscular early-2000s crime movies
people interested in Detroit-set urban action
audiences who enjoy pulpy violence with family-drama stakes
Skip if
you want subtle writing or nuanced moral complexity
you dislike broad, sometimes cartoonish dialogue
you’re looking for a clean, realistic procedural
you prefer restrained violence and low-key pacing
Overview
Four Brothers is a revenge movie with a rough, street-level charge and a surprisingly playful sense of excess. The premise is simple, but the film keeps finding ways to escalate: family loyalty, neighborhood politics, corrupt systems, and sudden bursts of action all collide in a way that feels very of its era.
Worth noting
John Singleton brings a strong sense of place to Detroit, making the city feel lived-in rather than just a backdrop for gunplay. The movie can be blunt and occasionally ridiculous, but that bluntness is part of its appeal; it plays like a hard-edged crime comic with emotional stakes that are sincere even when the dialogue is not.
Bottom line
It works best if you want a slick, angry, crowd-pleasing vigilante story with a strong cast and a pulpy rhythm. If you need realism, restraint, or especially elegant plotting, it may not be your thing, but as a piece of early-2000s action-crime filmmaking, it has a lot of force.
Top Letterboxd reviews
Danny Aston (4★) · 2053 likes
if you substitute the old lady for splinter, this is the best teenage mutant ninja turtles movie out there
sydney (4★) · 1019 likes
still cry about jack mercer my boyfriend
Robert Franco · 831 likes
there’s a beautiful moment where one of the four brothers (the one who has dipped his toe into being gay) is dying in mark wahlberg’s arms. as mark holds his dying brother he cries out to him, “don’t you die on me you little fairy!” tragic.
sartoriallyinc (3★) · 735 likes
mark wahlberg in his most challenging role yet: acting like a brother to 2 pocs
matt lynch (3★) · 635 likes
Superficially entertaining for a lot of perfectly good reasons, and yet the idea of Mark Wahlberg vs. gentrification seems dubious.