Brotherhood (2016 film)

Brotherhood is a 2016 British drama film written, directed by and starring Noel Clarke.^[2] It is the sequel to Adulthood, and is the third and final instalment of the Hood trilogy. It was screened in the Special Presentations section at the 2016 Toronto International Film Festival.^[3]

Plot

Ten years after the events of Adulthood, Sam has now settled down. He has a partner (Kayla) and two kids (one from a previous relationship with Lexi who has died). He is on much better terms with his mother and brother Royston and has also befriended Alissa, who now has a teenage daughter from her relationship with the late Trevor 'Trife' Hector, whom Sam killed in Kidulthood. Now Sam has four jobs and also works out at a local gym. One day when he arrives, he overhears a girl describe to the owner how she was attacked by someone called 'Mooks.' The owner pulls out a gun, sees Sam listening in and closes the door.

Sam's brother Royston is in a band with Henry. One night, when they're playing a gig, a gunman (later to be known as Drew) enters the venue and shoots Royston on orders. Before he escapes in a Jeep, Drew leaves an envelope addressed to Sam next to his brother's body. Luckily, Royston has suffered only a flesh wound. Sam visits Alissa with some money for her daughter. Alissa, who has forgiven Sam, says they must soon tell Trife's daughter what happened. She sees Sam as a family friend but does not yet know that Sam killed Trife.

Sam visits Royston in the hospital and sees their mother (Mum) there. She asks Sam to bring the grandchildren to see her soon. Afterwards, Sam learns from Henry that it wasn't an accident, as originally described. Henry gives Sam the envelope. It contains an address with instructions for Sam to go there. Sam asks Henry to come with him, but Henry refuses.

On his way home, Sam bumps into a mystery lady, who "accidentally" spills coffee on him. She invites Sam to her flat to make amends and seduces him. They have sex, but unbeknownst to Sam, their interlude is being taped. Sam heads home, discovers he is being followed, and attacks the mystery man. While they grapple, the Jeep that facilitated gunman Drew's escape pulls up. Out comes Melvin (AKA 'Hugs'). When he hugs assailants, he knifes them for crossing him or his friends. Hugs pledges to cut Sam and also threatens his family. If Sam fails to go to the address in the envelope, more people will get hurt.

Sam arrives at the place, a lavish property in a well-to-do area. He sees the man that he originally assaulted and jumps him again. Sam gains access to the house but finds he is outnumbered. After an initial beating, a man by the name of Daley intervenes. He is a criminal, and clearly a successful one. He works for a notorious Kingpin known as 'Mooks'. He shows Sam around the house and it's clear he runs drugs and high-end prostitution. Daley offers Sam a job, but he refuses. Daley then directs Sam to a basement room in the house where he meets up with Curtis, Trife's Uncle. The two have a long-standing feud because (in Adulthood) Sam killed Trife and also set up Curtis for a 10-year stretch. Curtis is now out and tells Sam he's after revenge - not just against Sam, but also his family. Sam tells Curtis he's not into this any more; he wants no trouble and just intends to live his life. Curtis tells him in no uncertain terms that this won't happen. After an initial struggle Sam leaves the property. He is caught on the street by Drew and some of Daley's other young thugs. Drew tells Sam that he's the one who shot Royston. In the nick of time, Henry turns up to help Sam escape. Hugs stabs one of the kids who let Sam get away as a warning to those who fail him.

As Sam and Henry escape, Sam realizes his family is in danger. He phones Kayla to suggest she take the kids to her mother's for the night, as he has to prepare for a job interview. Back with Kayla Sam finds out that a DVD of his sexual encounter with the mystery lady was delivered to his home. Sam protests that he was set up, but this doesn't wash with Kayla, who walks out. Sam reaches out for help to his old friend Desmond 'Buds' Lynch, now a detective. (He was a volunteer PC in Adulthood.) Buds and a colleague go to the fancy address where Sam was, but Daley belittles and threatens them for not having a warrant.

Curtis phones Sam, to further frighten him and his family. After the threatening call, Daley is furious that Sam has contacted the Police and orders Curtis to speed things up by spilling the blood of Sam's family. Instead, After Daley leaves, Curtis and Hugs conspire to kill him and take over the operation. Sam's mother (Mum/Mrs. Peel) is returning home when she sees a girl being attacked. The assailants promptly run away so Mrs. Peel helps the girl (Janette) into her flat. Janette claims she was robbed, but she still has her mobile phone and uses it to text someone. Meanwhile, Mrs. Peel calls Sam and tells him what's happening. Sam senses something amiss and asks Mum to describe the girl. After a brief description Mum ends the call as the doorbell rings. Sam knows something is definitely wrong here and heads to the flat. Mum asks Janette (the same girl who seduced Sam and works for Daley) not to open the door, but she lets in Curtis and Hugs. They threaten Mum for what Sam has done, then Hugs pushes her off the balcony. Mrs. Peel falls to her death. Sam arrives and discovers his mother's body. The police try to restrain him, but he attacks them and then is arrested. After Buds interrogates him, Sam is released without charge. He arranges and attends Mum's funeral and wake. Royston tells Sam that his fiancée is pregnant and they plan to move to America.

In a brief reconciliation, Sam and Kayla have sex. Even so, she makes it clear that she and the kids are not coming home until Sam sorts this out and tells her, "It's done."

Sam phones Curtis and tells him, "You're a dead man." Then he breaks into the gym planning to steal a gun he had spotted during his workout. The owner of the gym, named "Brick", catches and interrogates Sam, thinking he works for Mooks. Sam explains he needs the gun to kill Curtis and Daley. Brick reveals that Mooks raped his little sister Sariya. Since then he and his partner Calvin have been searching for Mooks to get revenge. They let Sam go and he again enlists Henry to help him. Henry has been lying to his partner to excuse time away from her and his son (who he wrongly thinks is not his). Henry tracks one of Daley's henchman to a café run by Sam's employer Hassan. With Hassan's help he learns where to find some of Daley's other henchmen. Meanwhile, Sam goes to a party and meets more of Daley's people, who direct him to a play-park. After taking some 'tools' from Henry's car, Sam goes to the play-park. Drew is there, getting a blowjob from a girl while two of his friends look on. Sam assaults Drew with a nail-gun until he tells Sam where Curtis and Daley are. Elsewhere, one of Drew's thugs, Yardz, threatens Henry with a hammer. Henry successfully persuades Yardz to change his life and walk away from involvement with Mooks.

Sam gathers some help, including Hassan, Henry, Brick, Sariya and Calvin, and goes to Daley's estate, where he finds both Hugs and Daley. Sam and his people storm the house, as armed police approach the scene. Heading upstairs, Sam finds a locked penthouse door and Janette outside. He knocks her out for everything she's done to help Daley and then kicks down the door. Meanwhile, Daley has known all along that Curtis and Hugs plan to double-cross him, so he stabs Hugs and leaves him for dead. When Sam gains entry to the penthouse, he finds Hugs dead and Daley gone. Sam pulls the knife from Hugs; the police arrive and find Sam there with the bloody knife. The rest of Sam's crew have fled, but everyone left in the house - Sam, the prostitutes and rest of Daley's men - are all arrested.

Buds exerts his influence to exonerate Sam as the suspect for Hugs' murder, in return for his giving up Curtis, Daley and Mooks. Sam calls Curtis to arrange a meeting and settle this once and for all. They meet seemingly alone at an abandoned location to fight to the death. Sam overcomes Curtis and wrestles a gun from him. Instead of killing him as agreed, he empties the rounds from the clip and leaves the gun and bullets on the floor next to Curtis. Sam walks away. Wounded, Curtis gets to his feet, picks up the gun, and loads a single bullet. He walks towards Sam, but before he can shoot, armed police gun him down and Sam goes back to confront the mortally wounded Curtis. As he dies, Curtis manages to tell Sam where Daley is.

Sam tracks Daley to a flat where he's filled a bag with millions of pounds, ready to escape. To stop him from leaving, Sam switches on the light, revealing Brick, Sariya and Calvin. They unmask Daley as Mooks, the real boss, the one who had beaten and raped Sariya. Sam questions the thug, "How did you think you could get away with all that you've done?" Grabbing the bag, Sam leaves. Brick pulls out a pistol and silencer and shoots the kingpin dead.

Safely away, Sam divides up the money with everyone who helped him get revenge on Curtis, Drew and Mooks. There's money for Royston and Alissa, too. Now strolling through a shopping mall with Kayla and the kids, Sam encounters Buds. The detective says Sam will get no more help from him but maintains they're still friends. He warns him, "Stay out of trouble." As the family walks off, Sam tells Kayla, "It's done."

Cast

• Noel Clarke as Sam Peel
• Bashy as Calvin
• Olivia Chenery as Sariya
• Nick Nevern as Detective Parkinson
• Steven Cree as Brick
• David Ajala as Detective Desmond "Buds" Lynch
• Arnold Oceng as Henry
• Tonia Sotiropoulou as Janette
• Jason Maza as Daley/Mookz
• Stormzy as Yardz
• Aaron Eaton as Teardrop
• Red Madrell as Alisa
• Cornell John as Curtis
• Jack McMullen as Drew
• Fady Elsayed as Wino
• Leeshon Alexander as Hugz
• Daniel Anthony as Royston
• Shanika Warren-Markland as Kayla

Critical reaction

Brotherhood has received a mixed critical response. Writing in The Guardian, Wendy Ide praised Clarke's direction and performance, but "Clarke goes and spoils it all by using naked women as set dressing and cramming the frame with flash gangster cliches, which rather undermines the anti-aspirational message of the film".^[4] Terri White of Empire praised Clarke's uncompromising portrayal of inner city life, but criticized Maza's performance and that, "Clarke can’t avoid employing the third-in-a-trilogy tropes: one last job/reformed guy helps new guy who is essentially him/grossly unfair family tragedy as his three-parter reaches its too-neat conclusion".^[5]

References

External links

• Brotherhood on IMDb
• Brotherhood at Rotten Tomatoes