A quartet of adopted brothers reunite in the mean streets of Detroit to solve the mystery of who killed their mother ... and kick some serious butt when said mystery is solved.

When I first saw FOUR BROTHERS just prior to its theatrical release, I thought it was an almost painfully familiar, simplistic, and "paint-by-numbers" revenge flick. But after giving the flick a second shot on DVD, my opinion of the movie has gone up a few notches. What I previously saw as simplistic I now see as "no-frills" and minimalistic. A few months ago I saw a relatively generic urban thriller, whereas the movie I watched last night seems like a low-key, no-nonsense, modern-day Western flick.

Yes, some of my original complaints from the first viewing still seem to hold true: that the screenplay often relies on coincidence and contrivance and that some of the acting performances are underwhelming (at best), but for the most part FOUR BROTHERS comes off like one of those cable flicks that you're just sure is going to suck, but then it goes and surprises you by being pretty damn fun.

One thing in the flick's favor that I may have overlooked the first time is its look. The whole of the movie is snowy and bleak, windy and weatherbeaten. In the hands of another director, FOUR BROTHERS could have just looked "cheap," but John Singleton seems to be going for a 70s-style sparseness that serves the movie well.

So it's not high art, and it's certainly nothing unique, but FOUR BROTHERS works because it's a simple story told with much efficiency, and it boasts a pair of really fine performances. Mark Wahlberg loves to do the "glowering bad-ass" thing, and here he does it quite well -- but even better is the amazingly effective Chiwetel Ejiofor playing a devilish bastard you'll love to hate.

Video: It's a rather crisp anamorphic widescreen transfer, and it suits the movie quite well. The bleak and wintry landscapes of Detroit and the gritty neo-Western approach combine for a pretty nifty-looking flick.

Audio: Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround or 2.0 Stereo in English, and a 5.1 French track as well. Audio quality is also top-notch, and although the movie's pretty dialogue-heavy, the few action scenes kick the speakers just a bit.

The Look of FOUR BROTHERS, Crafting FOUR BROTHERS, and Behind the Brotherhood are behind-the-scenes featurettes that each run about ten minutes in length. The first one focuses on the production design, the costumes, the locations the second on the screenwriting and production process, and the third on the four actors employed to play the brothers. Fans of the flick should enjoy these pieces, but they don't dig all too deeply into any of the subject matter. Interview subjects include director John Singleton, producer Lorenzo Di Bonaventura, screenwriters David Elliot & Paul Lovett, and actors Mark Wahlberg, Tyrese Gibson, and Andre Benjamin.

Mercer House Shootout is a 4-minute look behind the curtain of FOUR BROTHERS' finest sequence (by far). Singleton, cinematographer Peter Menzies Jr., and some of the FX technicians describe and detail how much work went into this (admittedly very successful) shootout sequence.

Director John Singleton also contributes a feature-length audio commentary, which is full of various war stories, anecdotes, insights, and information. Singleton's a smart and savvy filmmaker, and by now he knows how to deliver a solid chat-track.

Rounding out the platter is a collection of five deleted scenes, the original FOUR BROTHERS theatrical trailer, and a bunch of Paramount previews.

FOUR BROTHERS is formula filmmaking through and through, but it's brought home with just enough grit, gusto, and emotion to keep you suitably entertained. It's not a movie you'll be talking about six months from now, but it'll do the job for at least 108 minutes.