Movie review - "Four Brothers" (2005) **1/2

It was a bright idea to remake The Sons of Katie Elder in a modern day urban setting, especially with multi-racial brothers and John Singleton as director. It was also good to have the mother character be seen and be more of a presence, and have one of the sons involved in her death. But for all that the film is a bit disappointing: flat, sluggish, a bit too on the nose with the lyrics of some of the background songs, and do we have to have something with corrupt cops again? It brightens in places, especially the shoot out towards the end, and the way the film is shot is interesting. Why didn't they re-use John Wayne's great entrance in Katie Elder?