Brothers

BRelease Date: December 4th, 2009

Genre: Drama / Thriller / War

Stars: Toby Maguire, Jake Gyllenhaal, Natalie Portman

Synopsis: A soldier goes missing in action in Afghanistan and is presumed dead.  His screw up brother steps up to the plate to be there for his grieving widow and children.

AltAss Ratings (On a scale of 1 to 5 asses)

Plot:                                

Very interesting and captivating from start to finish.

Writing:                                 

Does not drive the film as much as the between the lines acting but a very solid effort nonetheless.

Acting:                              

Toby Maguire's best by far and Jake Gyllenhaal is excellent as well.  Natalie Portman did not impress me in her role as the grieving widow.

Originality:                  

This is a remake of a foriegn film, German I think.  I did like the decision to incorporate the issue of post traumatic stress that is affecting so many of our soldiers adversely.

Overall:                           

A very nice picture all things considered.  It was a little annoying to see the over the top depiction of the circumstances surrounding the capture of Toby Maguire's character.  Many service men and women will tell you that they were equally affected by going to war without being captured, tortured, and forced to kill a fellow soldier.