Quartile rating: 7.5/10 · 1 rating
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.
Brothers (2009) is a tense domestic drama anchored by strong performances from Tobey Maguire, Jake Gyllenhaal, and Natalie Portman. Maguire in particular delivers a raw, unsettling turn as a PTSD-afflicted veteran, earning the film high marks in acting. The plot is competent and emotionally engaging but follows a fairly predictable arc — the remake of the 2004 Danish film loses some of the original's rawness while gaining Hollywood polish. Cinematography is functional and grounded but unremarkable. Novelty suffers from its remake status and familiar war-trauma narrative territory. The ending is appropriately ambiguous and emotionally honest but somewhat abrupt, leaving threads unresolved in a way that feels more deflating than deliberately open.