Brothers

Any movie with Tobey Maguire, Jake Gyllenhaal and Natalie Portman in it is going to come with pretty high expectations from me.

Sadly, despite it having some excellent moments, Brothers doesn't meet those expectations.

Sam Cahill (Maguire) is sent to Afghanistan leaving his wife Grace (Portman) and two young daughters and recently paroled brother Tommy (Gyllenhaal). When Sam is assumed dead Tommy takes over the role of father figure to his nieces, quite against his character.

In doing so Tommy earns the respect of his father Hank (Sam Shepard) and gets pretty close with Grace, so much so they share a kiss.

When Sam is found and returns home he's overcome with suspicion that Tommy has usurped him and is haunted by what happened in Afghanistan.

This all sounds really gripping and a good basis for a film but, for me, something went wrong.

It lacked tension for one thing.

When Sam and another soldier were held captive in Afghanistan there were some very amazingly harrowing scenes, in a bizarre way the highlight of the movie. It didn't transfer to the time when Sam came home and couldn't cope.

There were a few scenes depicting his struggle but you never really got into his mind. Tommy's transition to the perfect brother was a bit too easy and Grace was a bit too strong for my liking.

I know I'm being pretty critical here but with the three aforementioned actors all very capable, it's a shame that the story wasn't fleshed out more. It was far too slow for no reason, they took a long time to get where they were going then it ended abruptly and unsatisfyingly.

As much as I like Maguire as an actor I feel he may have been miscast. I couldn't buy him as an army captain.

Given I expected to be blown away by this movie I have to say I'm very let down. There were moments but not enough to have me captivated and moved, which is what the makers were going for I'm sure. A 6 out of 10.