Brotherly Love

I recently watched a film that, in my opinion, is a better "war movie" from last year than the Best Picture winner, The Hurt Locker. Well, a little bit better, at least.

Brothers is the story of... well... two brothers, one a perpetual screw-up recently released from prison (Jake Gyllenhall), the other a soldier who followed in his father's footsteps and who is heading off to fight in the Middle East (Tobey Maguire). Natalie Portman plays the wife of the soldier, whose life is shattered when her husband is apparently killed in action. In fact, he has been captured by the enemy, and is put through a grueling ordeal that transforms and destroys him.

The script is not outstanding or revolutionary, and it borrows some ideas you've probably seen in other war movies -- particularly the more modern, "gritty" kind. It's also playing a romance-that-cannot-be thread that isn't exactly breaking new ground. But what makes the movie really succeed is the strength of its acting. All three -- Maguire, Gyllenhaal, and Portman -- give really fantastic performances. They're powerful when they need to be, subtle when they need to be, and hit every beat in between.

In particular, Tobey Maguire is really amazing. His character comes back from war so different and so damaged that he's a completely different person, and Maguire captures this perfectly. He gives a truly chilling performance; though the film has been somewhat rote and predictable through the first two acts, he is such a terrifying wild card in the final act that I honestly found myself uncertain just what he would do. The tension in the last half hour of the film is strong and potent, and while the film didn't really need to be "redeemed" as such, this is the part that lifts the whole thing a cut above others.

I rate Brothers a B-. I might have gone higher, but it truly is an average movie elevated a great deal by good acting. If you've liked any of those three performers in other films, you would probably enjoy their work here.