A loosely based remake of the 1965 western film The Sons of Katie Elder, Four Brothers is a 2005 movie about what happens when beloved citizen Evelyn Mercer is murdered in a store heist. Her four dangerous adoptive sons come to her funeral: Bobby Mercer (Mark Wahlberg), Angel Mercer (Tyrese Gibson), and Jack Mercer (Garrett Hedlund) join the regenerated ex-union leader, Jeremiah Mercer (André 3000). They decide to investigate the murder, discover that her execution was intentional, and resolve to find the criminals by themselves.
This film provides examples of:
Abusive Parents: At least two of the brothers, Bobby and Jack, are alluded to having these (either biological or foster) before Evelyn adopted them.
Aloof Big Brother: Bobby could be considered this prior to his mother's murder, although he becomes much more involved after returning to Detroit.
Annoying Younger Sibling: Jack is often treated like this, especially when he tries to act as the Only Sane Man by telling his brothers to stop doing something dangerous or stupid. Unfortunately, he's often promptly told to shut up.
Asian Store Owner: The owner of the store where Evelyn was killed is Middle Eastern.
Badass: All of the four brothers share this trait, though its Bobby and Angel who do most of the work.
Don't Tell Mama: Implied to have happened quite often, both in the past and present. Of course, it's also stated that Evelyn always found out what they did anyways.
Foolish Sibling, Responsible Sibling: Jeremiah and Jack are far more responsible and rational than their more impulsive and hot-headed brothers, Bobby and Angel.
Making Jack's death all the more surprising.
Four Temperament Ensemble: The brothers seem to fit this — Bobby is Choleric, Jeremiah is Melancholic, Angel is Sanguine, and Jack is Phlegmatic.**
Gone Horribly Wrong: The brothers successfully track down and finish off their mother's killer, but they never anticipated losing their youngest brother in the process.
Happily Adopted: Jack states in a deleted scene that they never went in search of their biological parents because Evelyn was enough.
Happily Married: Jeremiah's wife is incredibly loving and understanding, Jeremiah thinks of her and the kids as he's stabbing a man to death.
Hot Mom: Jeremiah's wife, Camille. Evelyn is also heavily implied to be this.
Ice Hockey: A number of scenes revolve around either playing, discussing, or watching the sport. One scene even includes a Creator Cameo.
Implied Death Threat: Bobby and Angel love this trope, as does Victor Sweet and his cronies. However, by the climax, full-out death threats become more the norm.
In-Series Nickname: Bobby was known as the Michigan Mauler during his minor league ice hockey days.
Kick the Dog: Victor Sweet's usual way of punishment even going so far as forcing Evan and his wife to eat food off of the floor for "sitting in his seat". He also demands that one of his mooks let him have sex with his fiancee. Luckily, he never gets to.
Mama Bear: Evelyn in general, but especially evident when she goes to the police after finding out that Victor Sweet was trying to illegally shut down Jeremiah's development project.
Morality Chain: Evelyn was this to the title characters. The film starts with her grisly murder, and then the boys find out that this wasn't a random mugging, but she was executed per orders of the Big Bad.
Never Trust a Trailer: Many of the TV spots for the film made it seem like a comedy, with a scene leading to the death of a major character being taken out of context and Played for Laughs.
No-Holds-Barred Beatdown: During the shooting when Jack is shot and killed Bobby is so enraged that Angel has to pull him off of the guy in mid-gunfight.
N-Word Privileges: All of the characters do this, but Bobby is definitely the worse offender, especially since he's white and tends to drops N-bombs like candy whenever he's pissed off.
This is likely a result of Bobby growing up with two black brothers and living in one of the roughest neighborhoods of Detroit.
Papa Wolf: Jeremiah slowly gets to this in the end.
Pre-Mortem One-Liner: "You killed my mother and my little brother, you motherfucker. Thank Victor Sweet!" BANG!
Pyro Maniac: Bobby seems to love playing with fire, to the point where Jerry is fearful for his house's safety. He also likes to threaten people with it.
Jeremiah: Do you remember when I built that tree house and you burnt that shit down? Boy, I wanted to kick your ass! Bobby: Don't worry, your house is brick, I ain't gonna burn it down.
Red Oni, Blue Oni: Bobby and Angel are as red as you can get, Jeremiah and Jack are quite clearly in the blue.
Vigilante Execution: The Mercer brothers take out many of Sweet's cronies and eventually Sweet himself without any permanent legal repercussions.
Vitriolic Best Buds: Sofi and Bobby seem to be this, they argue and insult each other constantly but she seems to be the only person other than his brothers that he trusts to get stuff done.
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