Michelle Yeoh teaches her boys that mother knows best in ‘The Brothers Sun’

Review by Brian Lowry, CNN

(CNN) — Mixing comedy and kicks in roughly equal measure, “The Brothers Sun” is a breezy if unspectacular showcase for Michelle Yeoh, here in a series that casts her as a mom harboring lots of family secrets. At its best when it’s playful – basically “Mother Knows Best” with a lot of violence – and less so when it slips into silliness, the show features enough energetic action to work reasonably well on multiple levels.

Trying to track the plot is really beside the point, but the story is set in motion when there’s an assassination attempt on the head of a powerful Taiwanese organized crime family by parties unknown.

After surviving a separate attack, the crime boss’ son Charles (Justin Chien), trained to be the family’s ruthless enforcer, quickly heads to Los Angeles to protect his mom Eileen (Yeoh) and younger brother Bruce (Sam Song Li), who has grown up blissfully unaware of the dangerous details surrounding the family business.

The series thus adopts what amounts to a mismatched buddy template, with the taciturn Charles having an opportunity to spend time with the sheltered Bruce, a student and aspiring improv performer who is understandably a little shaken to suddenly have people trying to kill him.

Eileen, meanwhile, has kept secrets from both sons, starting with the circumstances that prompted her to leave with one of them and the background of her relationship with her husband. Throw in potential new love interests for both sons, in Bruce’s case played by Madison Hu – Olivia Rodrigo’s other half in the Disney Channel series “Bizaardvark” – and there’s a lot (or, maybe a little too much) going on.

“The Brothers Sun” comes with an interesting creative pedigree, co-created by Byron Wu and Brad Falchuk, the latter a frequent collaborator with Ryan Murphy on shows like “American Horror Story.” While the series exhibits an international flavor and fondness for martial-arts fare, that’s balanced by the goofy family dynamics, with the post-“Everything Everywhere All at Once” Yeoh (who also showed up in Netflix’s “The Witcher” prequel) serving as its formidable anchor.

The eight episodes move at a reasonably brisk pace, though as is commonly the case with series built around slim movie-style conceits, the pacing bogs down a bit in the midsection before rallying at the end.

Ultimately, “The Brothers Sun” proves rewarding enough to justify the binge, even if it’s less the boys than Mother Sun, the title notwithstanding, who gives the series its shine.

“The Brothers Sun” premieres January 4 on Netflix.

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