“Four Brothers” is a real mess of a movie because it simply cannot decide whether it is thriller, a drama or an action film. If the filmmakers aren’t even sure about what they are doing, how are we meant to understand it?

In this film, Bobby (Mark Wahlberg “The Happening”, “Three Kings”), Angel (Tyrese Gibson “2 Fast 2 Furious”), Jeremiah (André Benjamin “Be Cool”) and Jack (Garret Hedlund “Tron: Legacy”) return home when their adopted mother (Fionnula Flanagan “The Others”) is shot dead during a robbery. The brothers soon learn that it was no accident that she died that day as they seek to hunt down the men responsible.

The film cannot decide what it wants its characters to be. Are they just after bad guys as though this was a regular revenge film? Are they going to use their heads to try and solve a mystery? Are they going to try and bond together? Are they there to make jokes at each other’s expense? The script is all over the place and therefore none of the actors really seem to know what they are doing. The movie is also indecisive when it comes to the villain because it doesn’t know whether to make him dark or funny.

“Four Brothers” features a big shootout scene that makes it seem like an action movie but then it there are many other scenes where it seems like this is a mystery movie. It doesn’t work because the script isn’t smart enough to make it a good mystery movie. The movie dabbles in being an action film, a mystery movie, a drama and a comedy so we leave very confused. It’s a shame because there was potential here for a good revenge flick but very quickly, it all gets muddled up. Clarity is very important in the movie industry and “Four Brothers” proves that.