Four Brothers marks the return of John Singleton who appears to be enjoying a pleasant season as a producer thanks to his discovery of Craig Brewer's excellent Hustle and Flow. His newest film doesn't rank among his best, but as an attempt at commercial film making it's a step up from his re-take on Shaft a few years ago.

Four Brothers is a tale of revenge set in a crime infested Detroit. Bobby (Mark Wahlberg), Angel (Tyrese Gibson), Jeremiah (Andre Benjamin), and Jack (Garrett Hedlund) are brothers who re-unite in their old stomping ground when the woman (played by Fionnula Flanagan) who took them in as youngsters is murdered in a gang slaying. Being the no-nonsense, loose cannon of an individual Bobby is, he talks his brothers into assisting him in tracking down those who killed their mom, even though the siblings - from vastly different backgrounds - have been repeatedly warned by police investigators (played by Terrence Howard and Josh Charles) to steer clear of the situation. Upon digging into the nasty underbelly of Detroit, the four brothers are lead to nasty gangster Victor Sweet (gleefully played by an excellent Chiwetel Ejiofor) who may or may not be behind the hit that cost them their mother.

Four Brothers is essentially an urban western, no surprise given that the western is a genre close to Singleton's heart. This movie is quite simply a tale of good guys vs. bad guys, only the good guys here also happen to be bad guys.

The performances are mostly solid. I really like Andre Benjamin (of hip hop outfit Outkast) a lot. He's extremely charismatic and proves to have dramatic chops to boot. Tyrese Gibson is also a commanding screen presence as he already proved in Singelton's Baby Boy. Garrett Hedlund is effective as a psychologically scarred musician who proves to be the group's vulnerable center. Mark Wahlberg is actually the weakest of the team. He excels as the no nonsense bad ass, slinging playful insults at those around him, but I didn't buy into any of his emotional scenes. They didn't ring true. The sight of this tough, streetwise punk crying, felt like a cheap ploy to lend sympathy to the character and it didn't fly, and what's more, Wahlberg doesn't sell it.

Terrence Howard (who recently lit up the screen in Crash and Hustle and Flow) is outstanding as a decent cop walking that fine line. He wants to uphold the law, but by the same token he listens to those on the street, even the thugs. Chiwetel Ejiofor is spectacularly perfect as the villainous Victor Sweet. I've been a huge fan of this actor since I saw him in Stephen Frears' underrated Dirty Pretty Things and he continues to amaze me with each passing performance. Here, he plays a bigger than life gangster, and watching him belittle his crew throughout the movie, was an absolute scream. This is a brand of bad I don't recall ever seeing before.

Singleton's direction is slightly inconsistent. The film has an energy and swagger about it to be sure. It's also well shot, perfectly capturing the gritty sites and sounds of Detroit. Sadly though, the tone is all over the map. At it's heart, Four Brothers is a tale of revenge, but the film is undercut by strange, light hearted humor and over the top situations that don't always mesh. Take for instance a sequence in which a pissed off, gun-weilding Bobby waltzes out onto the court during a high school basketball game. His position is to find an apparent witness who saw the slaying that took the life of his mother Evelyn. Many would argue that Bobby's approach perfectly suits his no nonsense nature, but I believe someone who'd been raised in the tough streets of Detroit would know better. This just seemed like foolish conceit to me. In fact, there are several times in the picture when these brothers waltz into public places showing their faces without a care in the world. In real life, these guys would have been popped in the first reel. And don't get me started on the cheesy sequences in which the brothers have visions of a "speaking-words-of-wisdom Evelyn. Singleton should have let that be. Equally sloppy (and just plain offensive) is a stupid subplot involving Angel's busy body Latino girlfriend. Very dumb and virtually unnecessary. Four Brothers would have profitted from some no-nonsense editing.

I suppose the weakest link in Four Brothers is the screenplay. There are just too many things that don't add up. I had a hard time with some of the characterzations. We as an audience are supposed to believe that Evelyn had a major impact on these main characters when they were younger, but nothing these brothers go on to do (at least in the case of Bobby and Angel) supports the theory of her strong moral influence. If these guys are supposed to be the best of the lot, then I'd hate to see how they would have turned out had Evelyn not been in their lives. And if Howard's Lt. Green is so certain that the brothers are going to take the law into their own hands, then why didn't he have officers following them around the moment Bobby got to town? I guess I don't have to tell you why - but had this been written with a little more finesse, the whole story would have been a lot less clumsy.

Still though, Four Brothers has it's moments. In particular, I love the last half hour of the movie in which the brothers come ever so closer to achieving their goal. The climax of the film is very entertaining and I must admit, there is a little twist that I didn't see coming. Furthermore, the cast build a nice rapport, and that more than anything else makes the movie worth the price of admission.

I still prefer the profound Singleton of Boyz in the Hood and Poetic Justice to the Singelton of 2 Fast 2 Furious fame (I also prefer that he write his own screenplays), but Four Brothers still has an energy about it that makes it worth recommending. Whatever you do, however, don't choose this one over Hustle and Flow.