Official Trailer:
[SPOILERS AHEAD…]
What if Michael Corleone didn’t take the path of his father? What if he continued with his life of a normal person away from the mafia? What if Vito Corleone’s wife had her own career ambitions? What do you get if you start with these broader questions, and build a story? You get The Brothers Sun!! We follow the Taipei gangster, Charles Sun, who is settled into his life as a ruthless killer, known in the circle as Chairleg Sun. When his father, Big Sun, is shot by mysterious assassins, Charles has to go to L.A. to protect his mother, Eileen Sun, and the younger brother Bruce Sun. Bruce left Taipei when he was young and is completely unaware of his family business. He doesn’t even know that he has an elder brother till Charles shows up. Whether Charles able to find the assassins and protect his family? Whether Bruce takes a path like Michael Corleone or charter his own path as an improve actor? Is he able to survive the mayhem and the twists and turns in the story? In all this bloodbath, is Eileen, the Rolodex, succeeds to protect her sons not just from the other Boxers and triad families but from yet another key character? The Brothers Sun narrates the story in an engaging way with an excellent mix of action, comedy, and music backed by an imaginative writing that keeps throwing twits at us. Few of the twists I predicted but some I didn’t expect.
Action is one of the key ingredients in this genre and The Brothers Sun doesn’t disappoint. Set pieces are creative and fight scenes are choreographed with full of kinetic energy. Multiple fight scenes stand out – shoot out in the club, bloodbath when the triad family heads meet at the hotel, TK in the golf club, Sleepy Chan in Ka Spa. Charles and Bruce have to fight and escape from killers in lizard costumes too 👏
Michelle Yeoh is the only familiar face in the series for me. Everyone else I am seeing for the first time. That made the experience better since they came without any baggage. Michelle Yeoh as Eileen, Justin Chien as Charles, Sam Song Li as Bruce, Joon Lee as TK, Highdee Kuan as Alexis have given their best and are fun to watch. Eileen, Charles, and Bruce characters are well developed and from the get-go we are invested in them. That made the series more engaging, we want to know how they survive through this attack, from far and near. When we get to know the backstory of the nickname Chairleg it shatters us, to see the brutality of selfishness and family honor. Applause to the writers, there is freshness in the approach and the storyline touches on many themes – demanding parents, women and the triad, sons under pressure of family expectations and family honor, social stereotypes. Music and witty dialogues add to the fun. Thoroughly enjoyed from start to finish 👌🏼