Brothers [Blu-ray]

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by: Brian Nallick (Mpls, MN)
on: Monday, 18-October-2010

Ive been watching a lot of war movies lately (The Hurt Locker, Jarhead).
I didnt care for either of them since they made our troops look bad.
Brothers on the other hand manages to do just the opposite.
A terrifying glimpse into war and what can and does realistically happen.

Without going that much into plot detail Ill sum it up like this.
Brilliant acting from an all star cast.
McGuire, Gyllenhaal, and Portman turn in stunning performances.
Pacing, direction and story are all perfection.

Any complaints?
Nope.
When it comes to showing what war can do to people this movie is about as perfect as it gets.
War is not just about physical causalities.
The after effects for many of our troops is why they need our support well after theyve left the battle field.

This movie should be mandatory viewing for every American as well as every money grubbing, draft dodging politician (you know who you are Republican and Democrat alike)
For every politician who makes money off of war, for every politician who has no problem offering our soldiers lives to further their own wealth.
Well?
Chances are this movie wouldnt change their minds anyway, thats how morally corrupt some of our leaders are.

There is no glory in war, just pain.
That is what I got from this movie.
Its not anti American, its not anti military.
Its simply a horrifying glimpse into what war did to one soldier and his family.
My thoughts, prayers and thanks to every man and woman who put their butts on the line for us.
Whether or not the wars were justified is a topic you need to take up with our war mongering politicians not our troops.
Brothers comes.....highly recommended.

by: blackboxBLUE (United States)
on: Wednesday, 6-October-2010

Brothers (2009) is one of those incredible indie films with incredible talent that was incredibly UNDER-rated when it came out in theaters. Even though it was a remake of a Danish film of the same name from 2004, it felt very fresh and American to me. I give it 4 out of 5 stars. Having watched the behind-the-scenes extras on the DVD, which include scenes from the Danish film, it seems to me that this story was even better told from an American point of view. I dont want to give away the story since this is a movie all about story and characters, but basically its about 2 brothers and their family, set against an Iraq/Afghanistan war story. Tobey Maguires character Sam Cahill gets captured while stationed in Afghanistan and is assumed to be dead. His wife Grace, played by Natalie Portman, grieves and works to move on with her life after this news and the funeral. Sams trouble-making brother Tommy, played with understated brilliance by Jake Gyllenhaal, becomes the replacement father and husband for Grace gradually. Of course a relationship develops between Tommy and Grace and that causes trouble when it turns out Sam is not dead and returns home from Afghanistan.

I think what is so brilliant about this movie is the complexity of the characters, but also the simplicity of the them at the same time. The acting by the three main young actors is great and was sorely overlooked by the Oscars. The Trailer does not do the movie justice, although there are some great scenes from the movie in the trailer. This is one of those movies, like Crazy Heart (2009), that has to be watched to be fully appreciated. This is up there with my favorite movies of 2009: Crazy Heart, (500) Days of Summer, It Might Get Loud, A Single Man, and Up In The Air.

by: J. Richardson (Corona, CA, US)
on: Saturday, 25-September-2010

I absolutely loved this film. I saw it in theaters and got it on DVD when it came out. Its a very moving film and it does leave you very..emotional. Its a really strong film in the sense that all the acting was top notch and the ending was superb.
While I agree with the 1star reviewers that it was stupid *spoiler* when he beat his partner to death, because I dont think a real soldier would have done that. But thats no reason to slash it down to a 1star. It helped add to the emotion of the film and developed a plot for the ending.
Anyway great film. Gives me chills every time I watch it. I would recommend it to anyone thats mature enough to take it all in.

by: Kellen Powell (Germany)
on: Tuesday, 14-September-2010

The best thing about the movie is, it allows you to step into all the characters shoes and feel what they are feeling. The movie is very powerful and is one of the best of the year.

by: Jason (Backwater, Alabama)
on: Friday, 10-September-2010

Contrary to what the trailer would have you believe, this is not a modern day, hedonistic Jane Austen novel with love triangles and pseudo-incestuous relationships. Save that garbage for Lifetime and A-Lister female celebrities who either want a time piece under their belt, or think they have the chops to translate a classic piece of chick-lit onto the big screen with more than a modicum of success. Looking at you, Kate Winslet. Instead, this movie instantly gains a star when it avoids the cheap and the obvious, delving into the rampant Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) cases resulting from wars in the Middle East rather than an actual love triangle. Allowing the superb cast to channel emotions ranging from joy to despair, elation to psychosis, was a much wiser choice.

Just as Jarhead Captain Sam Hill (Tobey Maguire) is strapping on his LPCs and heading out to BFE, Afghanistan where hell get sleepless nights in the sandbox and the 4 fingers of death for dinner, leaving his beautiful wife Grace (Natalie Portman) and their two daughters behind, bidding his Marine Corp father an Alpha Mike Foxtrot, his soup sandwich brother Tommy (Jake Gyllenhaal) is being released from prison for an undisclosed crime.

All is well in the MMFD until Hills chopper flight goes Tango Uniform, hit by enemy fire. Thrown to his fourth point of contact with no time to pop smoke, his situation is a FUBAR Charlie Foxtrot and hes taken prisoner by the Taliban. Captured with a Private, Cpt. Hill reminds the lower enlisted Marine to remain disciplined and strong. He is assumed dead, and his family is informed of the travesty. Before the dress blues have left the driveway, Sams brother Blue Falcons him back home, playing the role of Jodie with Grace. When hes rescued, however, the movie heats up as PTSD hinders the reacclimation with his family and causes him to engage in the mental goat rope of infidelitous thoughts.

Military lingo aside, this is a very compelling film dealing with timely subject matter. The three leads are wonderful, but Tobey Maguire really stretches his legs in his role as a traumatized Marine back from war. When he begins to go bug-eyed - aided by his gaunt appearance - its genuinely disturbing. The pacing away from war is a little slow but manageable.

I give very high praise and recommendation for director Jim Sheridans work in this film. He made the right choices, let the stars dominate the screen, and created a wonderful, albeit imbalanced movie.

by: Sang (CA)
on: Friday, 3-September-2010

Despite the fact that Jake and Natalie are listed as the stars, their roles really are not as haunting as the role Tobey plays. The quasi romance between Tommy (Jake) and Grace (Natalie) only amounted to slow flirtation. This storyline would have more depth if there were a real relationship formed when Sam (Tobey) was rescued from Afghanistan. Indeed, the story of Sams ordeal and subsequent torment provides all the driving intensity in this movie. Tobey does a good job in portraying a psychological damaged individual. In the climax, Sam finally blows up emotionally over the perceived betrayal by his brother Tommy and his wife Grace, but underneath, the cause for his breakdown is his own guilt over his action towards a brother of war in Afghanistan. In some ways, the Tommy and Grace story, rather light and enjoyable, is like a sugar coat around the bitter theme of the price of war.

by: G. Martinez (Orlando, FL)
on: Monday, 30-August-2010

The movie show you a terrible truth about what is the life that live our soldiers when they come back from those CONFLICTS. The movie arrived sooner than I expected and in perfect conditions.

by: Laurel-Rain Snow Rain (Fresno, California)
on: Sunday, 22-August-2010

When I found this movie, Brothers, starring Tobey Maguire, Jake Gyllenhaal, and Natalie Portman, and also featuring Mare Winningham and Sam Shepard, I had some expectations about it. For one thing, Ive enjoyed performances by each of these actors over the years.

The cast was wonderful in this poignant depiction of how the war affects everyone in the family, including those left behind.

When Sam (Tobey Maguire) returns to Afghanistan, he leaves behind his wife Grace (Natalie Portman), his two kids, his brother Tommy (Jake Gyllenhaal), and his parents.

Sam Shepard stoically plays the man who believes in the honor of military life, but later in the movie, we catch a glimpse of emotion as he shares some of what he felt after returning from Vietnam.

While Sam is away, Grace comes to rely more and more on Tommy. Especially after the family is notified that Sams plane crashed in Afghanistan and that he didnt survive.

However, we soon glimpse scenes in Afghanistan that reveal that Sam is not dead, but a prisoner who is being tortured. The horror is almost overwhelming.

There are moments back home, though, where Tommy and Grace seem more and more connected.

So imagine what will happen when Sam actually returns. The sudden return is almost as heart-wrenching as his departure earlier. The emotions, the adjustment difficulties, the effects of the torture on Sam, and ultimately on his family....

This was a compelling film that left me thinking all through the afternoon about the high price of war and the emotional after effects.

by: Roland E. Zwick (Valencia, Ca USA)
on: Sunday, 22-August-2010

Brothers is an American remake of an excellent Danish drama from 2004. As the title suggests, the story centers on two male siblings who are essentially polar opposites of one another. Sam (Tobey Maguire) is an upright family man and lifelong Marine who has already served one tour in Afghanistan and is all set to embark on a second. Tommy (Jake Gyllenhaal) is a neer-do-well ex-con whos released from prison on the very same week Sam is being re-deployed to the battlefield, leaving a wife (Natalie Portman) and two young daughters (the delightful Bailee Madison and Taylor Grace Geare) behind at home. When news comes that Sam has been killed in a helicopter crash, Tommy is there to help pick up the pieces, leading to some potential romantic complications between him and his brothers grieving widow, Grace. But that turns out to be only half the story, as anyone familiar with the Danish version already knows.

Written by David Benioff and directed by Jim Sheridan, Brothers follows the original fairly closely in terms of outline and incident, focusing on one mans attempts to turn his life around after making a mess of things, and anothers efforts to come to terms with an action he performed under duress that his conscience will clearly never allow him to live with. The complex relationships among the three principal players - along with Sams Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder - are dealt with in an adult and thoughtful fashion, with a minimum of melodrama and nary a hint of sensationalism. The conflicts are further exacerbated by the mens father (Sam Shepherd), a hardnosed Vietnam vet whose personal preference for Sam over Tommy has been evident to both boys from very early on in their lives.

Brothers reveals its European roots in its more deliberate pacing, its emotional complexity, its lack of judgment towards its characters, and its willingness to leave some loose ends hanging at the end. Maguire and Gyllenhaal are both excellent as the two torn brothers trying to stay close despite their differences - as are Portman, Shepherd and Mare Winningham as the boys loving and conciliatory step mom whose calming influence over her husband goes a long way towards ameliorating some otherwise potentially volatile situations.

by: L. J Nary (Indio, CA United States)
on: Saturday, 21-August-2010

This movie shows a young married couple with two small children. The husband is a marine with a high rank. They are a happy closeknit family. His father and stepmom are part of their life. The husband is played by Tobey, and he has a brother who he seems to be protective, of played by Jake. Jakes role is more of the scapegoat, being measured as less than by his father. It starts off just showing the way the family acts with each other than it branches off into Tobeys character going to war to Afghanastan. He and another officier get shot down and become prisoners of war. The torture scenes feel brutal and what is required brings Tobeys character waves of shame. He gets saved than has to go home and find that his life will never be the same again. His brother ends up filling his shoes while he was away. The title makes it seem like it was about the two and their connection together, yet I dont really see a plot line that warrants that title. The disasterous damage done to the psyche is reflected well by the actor, Maguire. You can see the set tension in his face and body language. The wife loves her husband and wants to support as best she can. Portman does a good job at showing her feelings on screen and is so believable. I liked to see Portman who has been a favorite actor since Garden State. I liked the caring and thoughtfulness that the brothers father showed to Portmans character and children by buying milk and just being so at ease with his extended role to them. The way the tears fell from her cheeks with such ease and clear feeling. The ice skating. The understanding and acceptance towards the change of someone whose loved. A new beginning.

by: dellamaesmith (United States)
on: Thursday, 22-July-2010

This was a touching and emotional picture. This movie made you think of the effects of war on the veterans and their families.

by: Stephanie in NJ (New Jersey)
on: Sunday, 4-July-2010

Brothers was a very emotional movie but its not so much a war movie but an intimate look at one family. Those expecting the normal blood & gore war movie may not get what they are looking for. I thought the acting was wonderful. Ive never been a big fan of Tobey Maguires but this was a side of him that I have not seen & I was happy to see him go to a character that is not the norm for him. I especially was moved by the acting of the older daughter. The emotion you see on her face for such a little girl was amazing.

Ive read some of the past reviews mentioning PTSD & how this movie is unreal or anti-military. For anyone that bothered to watch the Special Features on the DVD, you will know this was originally a Danish movie that was remade in America. Second, even if you know someone who has suffered PTSD, doesnt mean you are an expert. As with any form of mental illness there are varying degrees. This wasnt some guy coming home from the war who was a little messed up in the head from watching people die. This was a man who suffered a traumatizing crash, was held as a POW, tortured, starved, etc. Every person handles these situations differently. Its also been proved that people who suffer head trauma can suffer from worse cases. Since this Marine was in a crash it could very well be he suffered a hard hit to the head. There are cases of soldiers that come home & kill loved ones. These are the extreme cases, like in this movie, the cases that are very few but can happen. This movie helps to show you more then just the blood & gore part of war, it shows what can happen to our soldiers when they come home if we dont take care of them. If we expect them to be a man & brush themselves off & go back to their lives as if nothing happened. The least we owe them is to make sure they are ok when they come home. Is that anti-American? I sure as hell hope not.

by: adiadv (West Milton, OH USA)
on: Sunday, 4-July-2010

This movie was incredible, and its now on my list of A++ movies. I watched it solely based on reviews and now I understand why it got such a high rating.

Tobey Maquire, Jake Gyllenhaal, Natalie Portman, Sam Shepard ... the list would be to long to name all of the actors that outdid themselves with solid and convincing performances.

Its a serious and heartwrenching story that (thankfully) sheds light on the trauma that so many soldiers endure while defending their country. Ive heard firsthand accounts from veterans describing their experiences, and this film brings home the fact that war is a devastating, life-altering event for both the victims and the participants.

by: Olga Bezhanova (Edwardsville, IL)
on: Sunday, 20-June-2010

The movie shows a scarily typical American family that is leading a completely vapid, senseless, emotionless existence. Their food, their clothes, their pastimes are drab and boring. They are incapable of any real, profound human emotion or any thought that rises above the purely mundane. The only way men in this family of sad, uneducated people can make a living are becoming a criminal or going into the military. When Sam, the responsible family man, is declared dead in action in Afghanistan, his widow Grace is kind of sad but not a whole lot. Sams wayward brother Tommy starts hanging around, and Grace lets him occupy Sams position in her life. She doesnt seem to care much one way or the other which one of the brothers repairs her kitchen, plays with her daughters and engages in romantic interludes with her. Then Sam unexpectedly comes back, which is also kind of OK with the utterly vapid Grace, played convincingly by Natalie Portman, whose total lack of personality in real life suits this role perfectly.

Sam, who has gone through hell in Afghanistan, feels that he cannot learn to reinscribe himself into this world of interchangeable wives, husbands, children, siblings, and friends. Everybody expects him to suck it up and resume the kind of existence he led before his horrible war experiences. However, Sam actually grew some personality during his captivity and torture. He is incapable of understanding this empty kind of life any more, let alone actually living it

The powerful and painful message of this movie is that some people can only be shaken out of the stupor they live in by something as horrible as what Sam goes through in Afghanistan. At the end of the film, Sam goes into a psychiatric facility. Apparently, he will have to undergo therapy in order to be cured of his newly found humanity. Then, he can attempt to join the world of robots represented by his family members.

by: Doc Beech (Dallas Tx)
on: Friday, 18-June-2010

This is a movie that combines PTSD with jealousy. It was an ok movie, but really it is just another remake on an old tale. The movie was written ok, but its not a new idea, or a creative piece of artwork.

by: Jess D. Ruehling (Franklin County TN)
on: Tuesday, 1-June-2010

Its very rare to have a new movie now a days with this much impact. The casting was perfect...down to the little kids. I would totally recommend this movie to anybody. Even kids, despite the fact it does contain some bad language. I think the youth of America could benefit from a film like this. 5 stars, all the way around!

by: Wayne Klein (My Little Blue Window, USA)
on: Monday, 31-May-2010

Please note: This review is for the Blu-ray edition of the film.

After his capture by members of the Taliban in Afganistan, Captain Sam Cahill (Tobey Macguire)returns a broken man by his experiences after being forced to commit a heinous act while a captive and suspicious that his brother Tommy (Jake Gyllenhall)who has helped to hold the family together when they believed he was dead has had an affair with Grace (Natalie Portman)Sams wife. Tommy an ex-con who is trying to get his life together faces ridicule from his father (Sam Shepherd) for his failures but earns his dads respect when he spontaneously remodels Graces kitchen. Haunted by his experiences, suffering from paranoia, Sam finds it difficult to settle back into the life he once occupied.

A remake of a 2004 Danish film Brødre which originally starred Connie Nielsen (Gladiator), Jim Sheridans powerful drama retains the plot and dynamics of the original film while adding a dramatic nuance unique for American audiences. While it doesnt quite measure up to the original Danish film which has a plot twist that is missing here that adds power to the conflict between the brothers, Sheridans film hits most of the right notes and is rarely off key.The performances from each of the actors adds to the film with the lead actors giving strong multi-layered performances. The screenplay by writer David Benioff (X-Men Origins: Wolverine, The Kite Runner, Stay and Troy)feels authentic but the removal of one major plot twist does rob this film of some of its complexity.


The Blu-ray has a sharp, beautiful looking transfer and nicely capturing the lovely Santa Fe landscape. We get an intelligent commentary track with director Jim Sheridan discussing what captivated him about the original drama and his own approach to the material; we also get a trio of featurettes on the production including one that focuses on translating the original film for an American audience without losing the essence of what made the original Brødre so powerful.


Brothers may not work as well as the original film due to some changes to the plot of the film but the performances and direction ring so true that one can forgive the change and its impact on this drama. Each film is uniquely powerful and Sheridans Brothers gets more right than wrong and is well worth watching.

A complaint about the Blu-ray (and maybe this applies to the DVD as well I dont know) but I find it ANNOYING when I have to wade through previews and an advertisement for Blu-ray to get to the main menu so I can watch the film. Its unfriendly authoring and not well done. Its also a tactic that other studios are using and its NOT consumer friendly (not that they have ever cared about that). If you buy (or rent) a disc you should be able to bypass all of this junk and NOT waste your time waiting for the film to start. Blu-ray menus that use Java (which this does) were originally designed so you could just jump to the menu and choose what you want to watch. Lions Gate this is how you should be authoring these.

by: Outrageous (CT)
on: Monday, 31-May-2010

What a powerful movie this is. A real tear jerker too about family, war and its effects on everyone. The 2 young girls in the movie are amazing along with all the other actors.

by: Sunny Skies (Bronx, NY)
on: Thursday, 27-May-2010

I wont go over the story as other reviews have gone through at length what the movie was about. While the story was heartbreaking, and the actors delivered beautifully, I feel that the movie was not very successful in adequately conveying the feelings of confusion, sadness, grief, paranoia, anger, and guilt that it tried to.

This was probably due to the reason that it was a slow movie, and the Afghanistan scenes were not nearly as long as the scenes in the suburbs. Also, not a lot of screen time was dedicated to the relationship between the husband and wife, and father and daughters pre-deployment. Therefore, it made it difficult to feel their sadness after the main characters return from war. AlthoughI knew what the characters were going through -- the lack of time spend developing their personalities and relationships with one another inhibited me from FEELING what they were going through.

Overall, it was an OKAY movie. I wouldnt watch it again or recommend it to anyone.

by: L. Jerome (Silver Spring, Maryland USA)
on: Monday, 24-May-2010

You totally feel for the brother who had to risk his life in Afghanistan -- even when he is forced to commit an unspeakable crime to save his life. You also feel for the brother who has just got out of jail and for the wife who is left behind to take care of small children. And most of all you really feel for the daughter who feels neglected and less loved than her sister.

I loved the fact that I thought the wife was going to have an affair with her brother-in-law, but no such thing takes place. Threw me for a loop.

This film was actually much better than I thought it would be. Not something I would watch again and again, but a good expose of the post traumatic stress disorder that has impacted so many returning soldiers, and their families.