20 Feb 2017 03:58:56
Brotherhood (2016)

This is the latest instalment in Noel Clarke's 'hood' films, following on from Kidulthood and Adulthood. This continues the story of Sam Peel, now grown up and struggling to look after his family, with different worries and pressures than before, only to have to face the return of his past, looking for him.

This is much more polished than the first two and clearly has a much bigger budget, with less of the indie feel of the first two. For all that though it is the worst of the trilogy, though it was not helped, for my enjoyment, that it has been a long time since I saw the previous two. To try and make up for any shortfalls in knowledge and/or memory of the first film, there are a number of flashbacks, but they only show what happened, not why.

Without any real insight into the why of the characters' actions, it becomes difficult to understand or empathise/dislike people. That probably explains why the main bad guy exhibits such casual racism throughout the film, to establish him as a clear bad guy. This film just ended up feeling formulaic and, sadly, lacking the gritty realism of the first one, in particular.

Watchable? Yes, but you really need to have watched the previous two recently to get the most from it, as you might otherwise spend the film, like I did, trying to remember who was who and what that flashback was all about. It is actually a good film, its problem is that it is being compared to the previous films in the trilogy, which are much, much better.

1.) 20 Feb 2017
20 Feb 2017 21:46:04
Spot on with this one ed, I loved the first two movies and also hadn't watched them for a while, but couldn't piece the links together. So was spending my time trying to figure out what was what rather than taking in the movie.

{Ed001's Note - normally I make a point of watching previous films before watching a film like that and it almost always makes no difference. Sod's law that when I don't bother it actually matters!}

2.) 21 Feb 2017
21 Feb 2017 16:12:53
Watched it last week Ed. I couldn't understand why Sam was friendly with Trifes Mrs etc. They hated him in the adulthood. They didn't introduce the new characters that well either. And the brother - wow. What happened to him? I thought it was going to be like the Mitchells getting back together! It was an ok film but nowhere near the first 2.

{Ed001's Note - the Mitchells?}

3.) 23 Feb 2017
23 Feb 2017 15:50:49
Phil and Grant mate! Thought the brothers would go back to back against the world, especially as the brother was supposed to be such a bad boy growing up!

{Ed001's Note - Phil and Grant? The only Mitchell brothers I know were a London rap group that did a song that people always said reminded them of me watching footie, called When The Whistle Blows. I guess that is not who you are talking about as they are actually cousins.}

4.) 23 Feb 2017
23 Feb 2017 19:28:30
He's on about that garbage Eastenders Ed001. xD

{Ed001's Note - ohhhhh sorry I never thought with it being a movies site, I was thinking of actors rather than characters! I don't watch soaps, so they are not really in my thoughts. Ed025 and Ed007 are the soapies.}