Brothers’ Movie Review

‘Brothers’ is basically an American drama-war film which stars Tobey Maguire, Jake Gyllenhaal and Natalie Portman.

Sam (Tobey Maguire) is married to Grace(Natalie Portman) and have two daughters. The differences between the two siblings has been targeted which ultimately leads to a devastating melodrama. Sam has to leave for Afghanistan and he’s declared dead there as he is kept as a prisoner during the war. Thus, predictably, at home, a relationship
is set up between Tommy and Grace and it is at this time when Sam is heading home.

The movie portrays two situations. In one, there is an emotional battle at home while the other focuses on the nature of the war and the brutalities one has to face being its victim. Maguire had to lose about 20 pounds to play the role of the post war Sam. Natalie Portman has performed her part well by exhibiting various emotions like sadness, pride, fear and regret when desired. Besides, Bailee Madison plying Isabella has done an excellent job and given a commendable performance. She has an apt timing and control. A photograph of teenage Maguire and Portman is also shown in the film, where both of them are looking really cute is quite touching.

The film collected a gross of USD 9,527,848 in its first weekend and an estimate of USD 26,070,302. It has received mixed to positive response from the film critics. The film has been given a rating of 57pc by the critics as reported by RottenTomatoes.com. Besides, ‘Brothers’ has also been nominated for the Golden Globe awards. Tobey Maguire was nominated for Best performance by an actor and the U2 song ‘Winter’ was nominated for Best Original Song in a Motion picture. Apart from this, Bailee Madison was also nominated for BFCA Critics’ Choice Award for Best young actress.

One of the drawbacks of the movie is that the storyline fails to justify its title. Basically it’s not a war film, but is based on the fact the way a war affects a soldier and his family. The film has excellent performances. In the trailers the movie is shown much as a thriller. But actually this is not true. One of drawbacks of the movie is that Maguire is too young looking for his role and he hasn’t come up to the expectations in many of the emotional scenes. In fact Jake Gyllenhaal has also given a good performance inspite of the fact that he is an underrated actor.

In all, the movie can be watched once. It has been rated R for language and some disturbing violent scenes. The movie is intensely dramatic and emotional and the entire cast has tried their best to come up to their roles. Many are expecting that the movie would be nominated for the Oscars. The actors have given their best performance. The critics have given a score of 2.6537 out of 4 stars for the movie. So if you wish some emotional drama, then you can go for this movie.

TINN