Review of Brothers (2009) by Shilohj. — 31 Jan 2010

While the subject of soldiers' post-traumatic stress is important, the overall story felt incomplete. I was surprised that it was not handled better considering the amount of talent that was a part of it.

the problem is the script. it is so uneven. maguire's voice over in the beginning says he would do anything to go back to his family, but there are implications as the film goes on that he feels more comfortable being with his "men".

did I miss something or did maguire's character kill a fellow soldier because he believed his captors would send him home, or did he do it to keep them from killing him? this was a sticky point for me because either way they would have killed him regardless.

the performances on the other hand were very good. I think gyllenhaal gave one of his best performances, as did portman. maguire's nuanced performance of this affable, loving father at the start of the moving to a stoic, emotionless soldier while in captivity and then this quietly broken man once he returns home was truly heart wrenching.

still I think what maguire's character went through would have worked better in dreams or flashbacks. it would have impacted me more, but I think how maguire inhabits the character is effective. you can see how his mind is working when he bluntly addresses gyllenhaal about whether he slept with portman.

he's eerily pleasant in his tone but you can feel that he is steadily loosing control.