Movie Review: Brothers

Brothers is an adaptation of a Dutch film by the same name. Tobey Maguire, Jake Gyllenhaal & Natalie Portman all deliver fantastic performances, supported by Sam Shepard & Mare Winningham. Tobey's ordeal in Afghanistan including some gruesome torture scenes, followed by his return home, and trouble in returning to a home where he was presumed dead, is torture on the souls watching.

Tommy, played by Jake, is the bad boy everyone loves, and watching he and Natalie Portman together is actually very enjoyable and believable. The trouble starts when the presumed-dead Sam (Maguire) returns home 4 months later.

The untold sleeper hit in this movie is not any of the principal actors, but Bailee Madison who played Isabelle Cahill. For a child actor of her age (9 at film time) to display such a range of emotion and depth, it's un-nverving. She more than any of the dramatic performances in the move, steals every scene for me. Here's hoping we get to see more of her in future dramas!

Loved the movie, and this after I was genuinely afraid it might just be a Lifetime-movie put on the big screen. But the powerful performances by every actor in the movie, good script, and able direction by Jim Sheridan proved me wrong and left me wanting more.