A revenge-action flick with a story that you’ve probably seen before. While the movie really takes it’s time to let the characters shine, give them moments that portray them as actual humans, it falls flat with a predictable storyline. The cinematography is great, featuring great action sequences that prove to not be overwhelming. 

The cast delivers a stellar performance, truly shining in each moment they got. Chiwetel Ejiofor gives probably the best performance, his antagonistic behavior makes you laugh and fear him at the same time. Mark Whalberg has always been an actor I despise a lot. I can’t take him seriously in any role. But I’m not gonna hold that against him or the movie, that’s just a personal thing. Garrett Hedlund is severely underwritten. He doesn’t get enough moments to shine, making it feel like his character is only there to kickstart the third act. Tyrese Gibson is (out of the four brothers) the one with the most convincing storyline of all of them. His performance and portrayal is truly unique and helps the movie a lot. Fionnula Flanagan is the sweetest person in the world. It was necessary to kill her off for the movie‘s plot to work, but still I would have loved to see more of her performance.

The movie has some great humor sprinkled into it. It’s not overly violent, it’s not over the top. But its ultimate message might be a bit too much for some people. It’s a nice movie to watch on a night where you want something that’s not overly complicated. You can relax, watch some nice jokes with good acting and really good portrayal of the characters in it, but don’t over-analyze the story.

The movie in of itself feels like yet another revenge movie. Standout (like Tyrese‘s acting and the cinematography) are rare, but when they come, they deliver a lot.