Brothers | 
 enlarge | Actors: Jake Gyllenhaal, Tobey Maguire, Natalie Portman
Studio: Lionsgate
Category: DVD
List Price: $19.98
Buy New: $5.04
You Save: $14.94 (75%)
New (53) Used (51) from $3.98
Rating:  75 reviews
Sales Rank: 3894
Format: AC-3, Closed-captioned, Color, Dolby, DVD, Subtitled, Widescreen, NTSC
Language: English (Unknown)
Rating: R (Restricted)
Region: 1
Discs: 1
Aspect Ratio: 2.35:1
Running Time: 105 Minutes
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.2
Dimensions (in): 7.5 x 5.4 x 0.7
MPN: 031398119258
UPC: 031398119258
EAN: 0031398119258
ASIN: B001FB55L2
Theatrical Release Date: December 5, 2008
Release Date: March 23, 2010
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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Product Description
After Sam, a Marine, goes missing and is presumed dead, his ex-convict brother, Tommy, tries to step in and help Sam's wife and daughters rebuild thei
Amazon.com
Screenwriter David Benioff (The 25th Hour) didn't have to do much to relocate Brothers from Denmark to America. The story remains the same: Captain Sam Cahill (Tobey Maguire) loves his family, but he's equally devoted to his career. Just as his ne'er-do-well brother, Tommy (Jake Gyllenhaal), exits prison, where he did time for robbery, the Marines deploy Sam to Afghanistan. Tommy starts looking in on his wary sister-in-law, Grace (Natalie Portman), but then Sam's helicopter crashes in the mountains, and the military informs Grace that her husband has died. Unbeknownst to the Cahill clan, the Taliban has taken Sam hostage and tortures him to elicit information. Sam resists, but his colleague caves, leading to an unthinkable act. Back in New Mexico, Grace and Tommy grow closer, stopping just short of a full-blown affair (in Susanne Bier's original, they take the plunge). Even Tommy's disapproving Vietnam vet father, Hank (Sam Shepard), sees his son in a new light after Tommy renovates Grace's kitchen. But when Sam is rescued by his company, he returns a broken man and is convinced that his wife has fallen in love with his brother. Even his daughters are afraid of him (Bailee Madison impresses as the eldest). As in Bier's film, Jim Sheridan (In America) elevates redemption and forgiveness over tragedy and loss, and his well-meaning remake gets off to a solid start, but it loses steam by the end. Brothers offers a compelling scenario, but the telling is too overstated to capture the full heartbreak of the situation. --Kathleen C. Fennessy
Stills from Brothers (Click for larger image)
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Showing reviews 1-5 of 75
 Un-American September 4, 2010
Dedalist
1 out of 3 found this review helpful
This is one of the more sickeningly anti-American movies i have ever seen. And at a time when service members are at war and dying and really need the country's support. Is there nothing these "celebrities" aren't willing to defile to put money in their pockets? They should all be ashamed.
 Watch it for Tobey September 3, 2010
Sang (CA)
Despite the fact that Jake and Natalie are listed as the stars, their roles really are not as haunting as the role Tobey plays. The quasi romance between Tommy (Jake) and Grace (Natalie) only amounted to slow flirtation. This storyline would have more depth if there were a real relationship formed when Sam (Tobey) was rescued from Afghanistan. Indeed, the story of Sam's ordeal and subsequent torment provides all the driving intensity in this movie. Tobey does a good job in portraying a psychological damaged individual. In the climax, Sam finally blows up emotionally over the perceived betrayal by his brother Tommy and his wife Grace, but underneath, the cause for his breakdown is his own guilt over his action towards a brother of war in Afghanistan. In some ways, the Tommy and Grace story, rather light and enjoyable, is like a sugar coat around the bitter theme of the price of war.
 Intense! August 30, 2010
G. Martinez (Orlando, FL)
The movie show you a terrible truth about what is the life that live our soldiers when they come back from those "CONFLICTS". The movie arrived sooner than I expected and in perfect conditions.
generally faithful adaptation of the Danish original August 22, 2010
Roland E. Zwick (Valencia, Ca USA)
"Brothers" is an American remake of an excellent Danish drama from 2004. As the title suggests, the story centers on two male siblings who are essentially polar opposites of one another. Sam (Tobey Maguire) is an upright family man and lifelong Marine who has already served one tour in Afghanistan and is all set to embark on a second. Tommy (Jake Gyllenhaal) is a ne'er-do-well ex-con who's released from prison on the very same week Sam is being re-deployed to the battlefield, leaving a wife (Natalie Portman) and two young daughters (the delightful Bailee Madison and Taylor Grace Geare) behind at home. When news comes that Sam has been killed in a helicopter crash, Tommy is there to help pick up the pieces, leading to some potential romantic complications between him and his brother's grieving widow, Grace. But that turns out to be only half the story, as anyone familiar with the Danish version already knows.
Written by David Benioff and directed by Jim Sheridan, "Brothers" follows the original fairly closely in terms of outline and incident, focusing on one man's attempts to turn his life around after making a mess of things, and another's efforts to come to terms with an action he performed under duress that his conscience will clearly never allow him to live with. The complex relationships among the three principal players - along with Sam's Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder - are dealt with in an adult and thoughtful fashion, with a minimum of melodrama and nary a hint of sensationalism. The conflicts are further exacerbated by the men's father (Sam Shepherd), a hardnosed Vietnam vet whose personal preference for Sam over Tommy has been evident to both boys from very early on in their lives.
"Brothers" reveals its European roots in its more deliberate pacing, its emotional complexity, its lack of judgment towards its characters, and its willingness to leave some loose ends hanging at the end. Maguire and Gyllenhaal are both excellent as the two torn brothers trying to stay close despite their differences - as are Portman, Shepherd and Mare Winningham as the boys' loving and conciliatory step mom whose calming influence over her husband goes a long way towards ameliorating some otherwise potentially volatile situations.
THE RIPPLE EFFECTS OF WAR.... August 22, 2010
Laurel-Rain Snow "Rain" (Fresno, California)
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
When I found this movie, Brothers, starring Tobey Maguire, Jake Gyllenhaal, and Natalie Portman, and also featuring Mare Winningham and Sam Shepard, I had some expectations about it. For one thing, I've enjoyed performances by each of these actors over the years.
The cast was wonderful in this poignant depiction of how the war affects everyone in the family, including those left behind.
When Sam (Tobey Maguire) returns to Afghanistan, he leaves behind his wife Grace (Natalie Portman), his two kids, his brother Tommy (Jake Gyllenhaal), and his parents.
Sam Shepard stoically plays the man who believes in the honor of military life, but later in the movie, we catch a glimpse of emotion as he shares some of what he felt after returning from Vietnam.
While Sam is away, Grace comes to rely more and more on Tommy. Especially after the family is notified that Sam's plane crashed in Afghanistan and that he didn't survive.
However, we soon glimpse scenes in Afghanistan that reveal that Sam is not dead, but a prisoner who is being tortured. The horror is almost overwhelming.
There are moments back home, though, where Tommy and Grace seem more and more connected.
So imagine what will happen when Sam actually returns. The sudden return is almost as heart-wrenching as his departure earlier. The emotions, the adjustment difficulties, the effects of the torture on Sam, and ultimately on his family....
This was a compelling film that left me thinking all through the afternoon about the high price of war and the emotional after effects.
Showing reviews 1-5 of 75
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