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On January 4, the streaming service Netflix presented the 8-episode comedy action “Brothers Sun”, in which one of the main roles was played by the winner of the “Oscar” Michelle Yeoh. In the review below, we tell you what the show’s creators, Brad Felchak and Byron Wu, offer the viewer and why their project causes conflicting feelings.
Pros:
main – coolly staged and filmed action scenes; a sufficient amount of witty humor; good acting performances; the project in general leaves more pleasant impressions than the other way around
Cons:
catastrophic global subsidence in the middle part of the season and local delays in many episodes; at certain moments, the comedic component allegedly conflicts with the dramatic (the latter wins by the end); unmotivated prolongation of the story, which only harms
“The Brothers Sun” / The Brothers Sun
Genre action, black comedy, drama
Showrunners Brad Felchak, Byron Wu
In roles Michelle Yeoh, Justin Chien, Sam Song Lee, Jun Lee, Madison Hu, Heidi Kuan, Alice Heukin
Premiere Netflix
Graduation year 2024
Site IMDb
In Taipei, a group of unknowns attack Charles Sun – a lover of baking sweets and the son of the leader of one of the triads known as Big Sun. A few mercenaries are not too much of a problem for the skilled assassin Charles, but it soon turns out that this assassination attempt is just a trap set by a mysterious villain to destroy Dog Sr.
As a result, the latter ends up in the hospital, where he falls into a coma, and Charles quickly leaves for Los Angeles to protect his mother Eileen and younger brother Bruce from a potential threat. The young man does not even suspect that his relatives are directly connected to the brutal gangster world, and plunging into the feud between the triads will be quite a surprise for a medical student who does not know anything.
At its initial stage, The Sun Brothers looks more than decent and prefers to appear as a fiery action comedy with inventive humor and almost Jonuikovian fight scenes – blood spraying directly into the camera and other spectacular moments. However, later, all the enthusiasm gradually fades away, and watching what is happening on the screen is no longer so interesting.
For example, the second episode has a brilliant action sequence set at a dinosaur-themed birthday party. Obviously, Professor Ross Heller would be delighted with such a celebration, just as the audience will definitely appreciate the extremely witty reference to “Jurassic Park”. But already in the fourth series, you will have to endure far from the most interesting dialogues lasting 6 minutes and put up with an uncertain dramatic component, which prevents the comedic madness from fully unfolding.
Such tuning swings are definitely not beneficial, and the sagging of the plot in the middle of the season can significantly spoil the overall impression of the series.
“Brothers Sun” belongs to the type of projects that start quickly, but lose their original charm on the way to the end.
By the sixth episode comes the understanding that it is almost impossible to watch until the story reaches the culminating act, which can tentatively be called the seventh and eighth series. The stakes are noticeably higher in them, the drama finally prevails over the comedy and makes you worry about the characters, the scale of the battle scenes increases.
Local actors fit their roles well, especially Justin Chien and Sam Song Lee, who played the title roles. The former is quite convincing as a brutal killer with the hidden talent of an outstanding confectioner. The second coped well with the role of a clumsy fool who wouldn’t hurt a fly.
The main star of this show, Michelle Yeoh, is beautiful as always. However, the authors criminally did not use her talents. For most of the running time, the winner of the “Oscar” and “Golden Globe” has to be torn between the roles of a cook who skillfully cuts green onions, and an ambitious lady who is used to being guided by reason, not force. There are also bright secondary characters that are really memorable.
After watching it, one can’t help but think that seasoned showrunner Brad Felchak (American Horror Story, Scream Queens), newcomer Byron Wu, and their creative team had better ditch the standard Netflix 8-episode schedule.
If from the script to increase everything superfluous, that which catastrophically inhibits the development of the story, and to focus on the best moments, which are enough here (humor, fight scenes, climax tension), it would be really something remarkable. And this is how the irregularly paced, albeit quite cute, series satirized John Cho’s luxurious home, which can be used to fill a couple of gloomy winter evenings.
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Conclusion:
“Brothers Sun” is a changeable show. Sometimes it looks extremely exciting, at other times there is a desire to turn it off. It is unlikely that you will want to watch this series for a second time, but as a one-time entertainment with which you can fill your spare time, it has a right to life.
