Brothers

2009 "There are two sides to every family."
7.1| 1h45m| R| en
Details

When his helicopter goes down during his fourth tour of duty in Afghanistan, Marine Sam Cahill is presumed dead. Back home, brother Tommy steps in to look over Sam’s wife, Grace, and two children. Sam’s surprise homecoming triggers domestic mayhem.

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Reviews

Steineded How sad is this?
Kidskycom It's funny watching the elements come together in this complicated scam. On one hand, the set-up isn't quite as complex as it seems, but there's an easy sense of fun in every exchange.
Chirphymium It's entirely possible that sending the audience out feeling lousy was intentional
ThedevilChoose When a movie has you begging for it to end not even half way through it's pure crap. We've all seen this movie and this characters millions of times, nothing new in it. Don't waste your time.
zkonedog Well, here it is again...another one of those situations where the trailer is actually better than the film itself. After viewing that preview for "Brothers", I had high hopes that it would succeed where "Jarhead" failed in telling the next "Rambo" story (this time about the Iraq War instead of Vietnam). Unfortunately, the film was much too understated and sparse to do anything of the sort.The basic premise of the movie sees a young Marine (Tobey Maguire) supposedly die in a helicopter wreck while serving in Iraq. The wife (Natalie Portman) and two daughters he left behind mourn his death, and are comforted by the Marine's brother (Jake Gyllenhaal). When "Gyllenhaal" and "Portman" get to be a little more than friends, however, the sudden, unexpected return of "Maguire" creates a high amount of tension.Here's the problem: If the film had focused on that description (and the one teased to us in the trailer), I think it would have been a much more memorable film. The conceptual love triangle that could have played out would have had the potential to tread on new ground in terms of military pictures, creating a sense of high drama. Instead, though, the ultimate vision of the film focuses far too much on Maguire's mental anguishes and doesn't allow the relationship drama to blossom.SPOILER ALERT: While presumed dead, Maguire is tortured by his enemy, even forced to kill a fellow Marine in cold blood. Thus, when he comes back home, he is a sort of walking zombie of his former self. He isn't able to reconcile his actions and allow himself to slip back into the real world, and even the hint of a Gyllenhall-Portman relationship pushes him over the edge (before that angle has any time to dramatically build).Sadly, in a way, the acting is actually at a very high quality, with the "lead three" giving great performances and the auxiliary cast doing a tremendous job in rounding things out (the "Dad" and "oldest girl" characters are very interesting to watch). However, director Jim Sheridan didn't seem to be able to decide which film he wanted to make: the one about the effects of torture on a Marine's psyche, or the one about how he fits back in with his family after being presumed dead. Sheridan tries to "go epic" and do both, but ends up accomplishing neither.Thus, unless you can stand a movie in which many themes are thrown at you that are never really fleshed-out or fully realized in the end, I would recommend staying away from this one. Don't let the trailer fool you...it isn't as gripping as it lets on.
grantss OK, but not great. Most of the movie is fairly slow moving, overly simplistic, and seems to go nowhere. However, it redeems itself with its ending: very moving and profound.Plot is OK, but direction is fairly unimaginative. Performances are OK on the whole. Natalie Portman and Jake Gyllenhaal do well and the little girls shine. However, Tobey Maguire seems miscast - not for the emotional depth he brings (that was spot-on) but as a Marine captain. He just didn't seem right for that role.I was expecting more from this, so a disappointing movie, for me.
LiveYoLifeLikeYouMeanIt Brothers is a very well-crafted and supremely acted movie starring a powerhouse cast comprising Tobey Maguire, Jake Gyllenhaal and Natalie Portman. Brothers is one of those movies that is thoroughly engaging from first shot to last and is able to exude this constant enchanting aura that gives weighted emotion to every one of its scenes. Its story isn't exactly original, a point that I will return to in a few moments, but is memorable due to the careful and precise direction, the pleasantly intense background score that captures the depth of every scene, and most of all, the acting by the entire cast, especially Tobey Maguire. Tobey Maguire plays his role with absolute and terrifying dedication, for his performance was very intense and heartfelt. He perfectly depicts the ways in which war can and does change the lives of the soldiers it harbours and the extent to which such strains can lead family life astray. And exactly where Tobey was very expressive and full blown, the always reliable Jake Gyllenhaal gives a more subtle performance with equal fervour and impact. Natalie Portman holds her own fort and is able to evict true emotion and feeling in the viewer. The two little girls in the film are surprisingly very good, so much so that they nearly manage to steal some scenes from their elder, more qualified counterparts. Having spoken about the acting, it's time to talk about Jim Sheridan's direction. Sheridan's direction is reserved and confident, and expertly brings to life the events on screen. Each scene is well thought out and shown with the maximum attention to detail. A dinner scene in the third half of the movie is astounding in it's craft, with every little manoeuvre and expression captivatingly unveiled, with the whole act being thoroughly dramatic and power-packed. This really is potent direction that is worthy of much praise. Some people deride the movie citing it as too melodramatic, and still others consider it generic Hollywood fare about how war affects people's lives. I believe this is hypocritical in nature, because this is rather unwarranted. Firstly, about this supposedly being melodramatic, I would like to point out that the movie was very reserved in its depiction of pain and suffering in most parts, while only reaching it's dramatic crescendo in the final ten minutes, which was very much necessary, especially considering how well acted the scenes in question were, and hence dismissing the entire movie as melodrama is unfair. And about it being a very generic tale about war, makes me wonder what this movie could have done differently to have not been 'generic'. Were it to focus more on the War itself, it would have been termed as pointless action with no dramatic heft, and since it does focus on the psychological effects of war, it is considered generic with striking comparisons with the 1978 classic 'The deer hunter'. This nature of belittling a movie released years after another, dealing with a 'similar' concept and theme, which in fact, is very much grounded in its own reality and carves its own character arcs, is once again unfair. Finally, I would like to say that Brothers is very strong, heartfelt entertainment that has been overlooked for some of the reasons stated and rebuttled above. The greatest strength of this movie is the acting it features and is truly an underrated gem.
Joe Tufano I've only watched this one time because it's not something you can watch over and over again, but this is a film that shows a side of the military that we don't really like to know exists. United States Marine Corps Captain Sam Cahill (Tobey Maguire) goes missing while on deployment in Afghanistan, reported killed in action and his family back home try to adjust to his absence. His wife Grace (Natalie Portman) tries to care for her children with the help of her husband's brother Tommy (Jake Gyllenhaal) who is the opposite of his brother Sam. They soon develop intimate feelings towards one another but only go as far as sharing a kiss. Sam is discovered to be alive and returns home, but is clearly traumatized by his experiences. I won't say what they are, but that combined with Sam noticing the looks shared between his wife and brother cause him to have a huge emotional break down. The premise is nothing entirely original, the film's real strength is it's three lead actors. Natalie Portman is really great at playing the military wife who tries to care for her family and support her husband as best as she can, Gyllenhaal is really good as Tommy who redeems himself in his family's eyes since he did time in jail. I'm not a huge fan of Jake Gyllenhaal, but think he's a very talented actor and like I said is really good here. And lastly, the frequently and unfairly maligned Tobey Maguire sells the hell out of it and arguably gives the best performance out the entire cast. I've always liked Maguire as an an actor prior to this movie with his run as Peter Parker/Spider-Man, Red Pollard in Seabiscuit and Homer Wells in Cider House Rules, but this is probably the best performance I've ever seen from him and that I think is Oscar worthy. As someone who is in the US military even though I've never seen combat, I've met a few people in the service who you can tell have been in combat because of the look in their eyes. And Maguire does that perfectly. And I've never really got the hate towards Tobey Maguire as an actor either. Seriously guys, leave him alone! While the premise is nothing entirely original, it's a very effect drama that shows the effects of war on those who serve in the war and their families, and it benefits from strong performances by it's three leads, especially Tobey Maguire.