Rating summary

Movie		3.0
Video		3.0
Audio		3.0
Extras		3.0
Overall		3.0

Brotherhood Blu-ray Movie Review

Should this release join your fraternity of Blu-ray discs?

Reviewed by Martin Liebman December 19, 2011

There’s only one story.

One of this world's great mysteries remains the culture of hazing and initiation into fraternities. It's not a mystery why people go through the process -- the need for human acceptance and, for some, to become part of an "in" group (and whether that, or any, group is greater than oneself is certainly up for debate) certainly plays a large part in of the process -- but it is a mystery why some people will go to such great lengths, put their schooling, futures, even their lives on the line for something that's often little more than a status symbol, and certainly not an advancement towards the end goal of higher education (which, believe it or not, isn't football games, girls, and alcohol). Wherever, however, or for whatever reason, the Greek system remains, and probably forever will be, one of the staples of higher education, its plusses and minuses seemingly irrelevant to the greater culture and symbolism it promotes and the incredibly large shadow it casts over the college experience. Director Will Canon's Brotherhood takes a raw, unflinching look at the Greek system of crude and potentially harmful initiation through a narrative that sees a night of hazing and pranking turn into an unstoppable chain reaction of out-of-control events that will forever change the character's lives and no doubt point a harsh and unwelcome spotlight onto the culture of college fraternities in its fictional world. How much real world relevance the film may have remains to be seen.

Baseball players make rookies carry little girl pink backpacks. Frat pledges must engage in something far more devious and deadly.

Sigma Zeta Chi pledges Adam Buckley (Trevor Morgan) and Kevin Fahey (Lou Taylor Pucci) are just a crime away from becoming full-fledged fraternity brothers. They're packed into the back of an old red van and tasked with robbing a convenience store of $19.10, that figure in honor of the house's 1910 founding. They're given a revolver and a mask by frat house head honcho Frank (Jon Foster) and one at a time reluctantly go do the deed. Little do they know that waiting for them outside the store is another brother who gives them the money and tells them to keep their mouths shut to maintain the illusion for the others still awaiting their turn. Unfortunately, something goes terribly wrong when it's Kevin's turn to knock off the store. The brother who gives them the money has gone to the wrong store; Kevin enters and attempts the holdup, only to be shot in the shoulder by a young clerk named Mike (Arlen Escarpeta). Once the bullets stop flying, the situation spirals out of control. The brothers cannot take their friend to the hospital for fear of answering to the police, and the night quickly devolves into one scheme after another to patch up Kevin, blackmail Mike, and return a wad of stolen cash to the convenience store before its owner -- or the authorities -- are any the wiser.

Brotherhood presents audiences with a slice of college life that's rarely been the focus of a film. Certainly pictures like Animal House have been built around the life and times of fraternities and their pledges, but Brotherhood paints a picture of the darker underbelly, away from the boozing and girls and playful pranks, instead focussing on the harsh realities that don't always stem from hazing, but are always just a mistake away. The film examines the lengths people will go to when their vision is clouded by the allure of the fraternity and the bonds it forms; that they will dismiss even common sense and human decency in the name of the letters, the "brotherhood," is the movie's foundation. They were brought in through lies and forced participation in criminal activities, and that is what they will turn to -- what got them in and what they know best -- to escape from a terrible situation, doing deplorable things and making poor choices that can and will scar them for life, in this case both literally and figuratively. It's a very strong premise for a movie with the potential to demonstrate the wrongs of hazing in visual form, bringing it to life in a way that the yearly fall headlines just cannot.

Unfortunately, Brotherhood isn't as thematically effective or technically polished as it needs to be and should have been, but the movie is fast-paced and tells an important and somewhat fascinating story, even if it does venture into the absurd by the time it's all said and done. The film starts strongly, but the plot slowly devolves into what would be a Comedy of Errors if the material weren't so serious. It's one of those movies where everything that can go wrong does go wrong, where every consequence is realized, every action yields a greater, more damning, subsequent decision and action. The movie's intensity diminishes as the mental, emotional, and physical casualties mount. Character dynamics suffer along the way, too, in part because the script loses its edge and in part because the actors never quite capture a pure sense of authenticity, all of them more concerned with looking and sounding the part rather than becoming the part. As the plot unfolds and the night unravels into a nightmare scenario, the movie begins to feel like an exercise in futility as the audience wonders how so many people could make so many poor choices. A tight and adrenaline-charged open slowly devolves into a typical "things quickly spiral out of control" movie where it seems as if the filmmakers were more interested in piling on rather than telling a tighter, more timely and important story. Sadly, the end result is a movie that doesn't resonate and doesn't offer up much of a lesson outside of "hazing, beyond a certain point, is bad."

Brotherhood Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Phase 4's Blu-ray release of Brotherhood is often well-crafted and nice-looking, but it does encounter a few problems along the way. The image generally enjoys a fine film-like texture, but there are certainly some scenes that look unnaturally glossy and flat. Grain is light but nearly constant, clarity is good, and detailing is crisp and strong in faces, clothes, worn-down and grimy objects around the frat house, and textured sofas and wood grains and other furniture and accents. Colors are balanced and true; flesh tones appear accurate, and everything from bright red pop bottles in the convenience store to flat paints in the frat house appear natural and pleasing. Black levels are generally fair, only sometimes crushing out details or artificially brightening up to a shade of dark gray. Light banding and moderate-to-heavy blocking are evident across many surfaces, but generally and usually at-a-glance, this is a good-looking image, and the filmic texture does a fine job of accentuating the slightly gritty feel the movie exudes.

Brotherhood Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Amongst the four included soundtracks (plus one audio commentary) included with this Blu-ray release of Brotherhood, it's the English DTS-HD MA 5.1 lossless soundtrack that will get the most play. Phase 4's losses soundtrack is audibly fine, but uninspiring and forgettable nonetheless. The track handles all that comes its way with relative ease. Music enjoys fair energy, though it could stand a little more raw clarity and power, even in a frat house party sequence where the music comes from all directions but never quite seems like it plays with the right balance for the sequence. Atmospherics are subtle yet effective in creating a realistic environment in several outdoor scenes. Gunshots are fairly crisp but lack the power one would expect, particularly when fired inside the rather small confines of a convenience store. The track does deliver solid dialogue from start to finish. This is a passable soundtrack, one that gets by without many problems but that doesn't have much to work with.

Brotherhood Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

Brotherhood contains quite a few supplements, including two audio commentary tracks and a short film.

• Audio Commentary: Writer/Director Will Canon, Co-Writer Doug Simon, Composer Dan Marocco, Editor Josh Schaeffer, and Actors Jesse Steccato and Meyer DeLeeuw discuss the short film that inspired the movie, shooting locales, their college bonds and relationships, their own fraternity experiences, the film's style and cadence, Brotherhood's score, and much more. For a group commentary, this one remains largely focused; the participants don't always talk and laugh over one another, making it more listenable than the average multi-participant endeavor.
• Audio Commentary: Writer/Director Will Canon, Co-Writer Doug Simon, and Producer Chris Pollack cover much of the same information as the cast/actor track. They discuss the short film Roslyn; Hitchcockian elements that inspired the film; expanding the short film into a full-length feature; shooting in Arlington, TX; the work of the cast; filmmaking logistics; technical aspects of the shoot; fraternity anecdotes; and more. This is a solid, steady commentary that does a good job of remaining entertaining while also conveying plenty of information. Fans of the film and/or the filmmakers should enjoy this one a great deal.
• Behind-the-Scenes Featurette (1080p, 10:37): Cast and crew discuss the story, themes, and how the project came together. The cast in turn talk up the work of Director Will Canon. The piece features on-set footage and scenes from the film in addition to static interview clips.
• Sigma Zeta Chi Pledge Interviews (1080p, 4:06): In-character interviews for fraternity membership. Included is Adam Buckley, Kevin Fahey, Eric Matthews, Pledges, and Adrianne.
• Theatrical Trailer (1080p, 1:44).
• Original Brotherhood Short Movie (1080p, 8:04).
• Photo Montage (1080p, 4:44): 19 Days in 5 Minutes.
• International Trailer (1080p, 2:33).

Brotherhood Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Brotherhood tells a good story that doesn't hit has hard as the filmmakers likely intended. It starts strongly and ends with more of a whimper -- even if the series of events create more of a bang -- largely because it's difficult to get behind the characters when they refuse to engage in common sense and instead allow their evening to continue to spiral well out of control for the better of the fraternity and for themselves rather than their friends and a greater sense of right and wrong. Thumbs up for a good idea, decent execution, and an exhilarating first act, and thumbs down for the movie's inability to maintain its strengths and for its lack of a resonating message except for "use common sense." Phase 4's Blu-ray release of Brotherhood does feature fair video, decent audio, and a nice assortment of extras. It's definitely worth a rental, and it wouldn't make a horrible addition to the Blu-ray library at a very low price.