FOUR BROTHERS (2005) - Marky Mark.... in the hood.

Mark Wahlberg is one of those guys that you either love or hate. He has made a few good movies, a few terrible ones, and generally gets along rather well on his charisma. His role as the foul mouthed Sgt. Dignam in The Departed was pure gold, and of course everyone remembers his Dirk Diggler from Boogie Nights. I generally find him to be good fun whenever he's in a movie, and most of his action flicks are pretty decent. Four Brothers is a solid revenge movie with a capable cast and an interesting plot, although in the end it's not exactly memorable. It's like that one girlfriend you had ten years ago, who was pretty cute and she might have even been funny or good at Super Smash Bros, but you're hard pressed to remember her name. Yeah, like that.

Why don't they brainstorm indoors? It's cold outside yo!

The movie opens with Evelyn Mercer, an older woman who has adopted several hoodlum kids in the past, doing some shopping at a Detroit convenience store. Two masked robbers run in and force the cashier to empty the register, and on their way out, kill Evelyn and the employee. A few days later, we find out that Evelyn's adopted children, now grown up, are back in town for the funeral. Bobby (Wahlberg), Angel (Tyrese Gibson), Jeremiah (André Benjamin) and Jack (Garrett Hedlund) are confused and wondering why Evelyn was shot in such a random manner. The brothers are warned by a local cop, Lt. Green (Terrance Howard) to let the police do their job and keep clear of any trouble, which of course, Mark Wahlberg being Mark Wahlberg and a general badass, wholly ignores the advice and goes on the prowl to find the killers.

Mark Wahlberg's hairline has seen better days.

The brothers eventually find the guys responsible for their mother's death, and execute both of them, but not before finding out that there might be more than meets the eye with regards to the shooting. Angel finds out that Jeremiah was the sole beneficiary of their mother's $400,000 life insurance policy, and that his construction company has not been doing too well - things that Jeremiah has forgotten to inform his brothers about. It's up to Bobby, Angel and Jack to find out just what exactly went down the day their mother was shot, what the deal is with their brother Jeremiah, and why rumor has it that local crime boss Victor Sweet (Chiwetel Ejiofor) had something to do with Evelyn's murder.

Chiwetel Ejiofor plays Victor Sweet, the villian. Serious dude is serious.

The movie is essentially just what you'd expect from the basic premise of a revenge story. The mostly good cast does a decent job with their roles, although the only performance that really stands out is Chiwetel Ejiofor's turn as Victor Sweet. He was the highlight of every scene he was in, and had some genuinely hilarious moments, like when he forced one of his thugs the guy's poor wife to eat spaghetti off the floor. I'm sure the director was going for the dangerous and sadistic vibe for Sweet, but the scene was unintentionally funny, seeing the normally refined and well-spoken Ejiofor saying stuff like, "bitch, git yo ass up." The rest of the cast plods along, with Wahlberg trying to pull off dark and unstable as Bobby Mercer, but it's nothing to write home about.

Four Brothers holds up relatively well compared to most other revenge movies. The plot is intricate enough to keep the viewer guessing, and there is plenty of action to keep things interesting, including a cool chase scene on icy roads that ends in a lot of mayhem. Also, this being a Marky Mark movie, there is the obligatory fist fight in which some poor idiot gets his face bashed in. It's gritty, entertaining, and ultimately satisfying.

TL;DR - Decent revenge story with Mark Wahlberg acting like Mark Wahlberg and fighting dudes - 6/10