Brothers (2009)Directed by: Jim Sheridan
Screenplay by: David Benioff
Genre: Drama | Thriller | War
Running Time: 110 Minutes
MPAA Rating: R
Viewed: Theater
There are two sides to every family.
[IMDb]
Comments: Well, it's been awhile. I've been watching episodes of Roswell here and there, and I've cleaned off my DVR of all House and Mythbusters episodes, so I haven't been watching movies of late. There are a few cinematic releases that have caught my eye in December, including Brothers, Up In the Air, and Sherlock Holmes, so I jumped at the chance to see Brothers on its release date. Brothers is a remake of Susanne Bier's Brødre, which I now really want to see. The only other film of Bier's I've seen is Things We Lost In the Fire, which has similar plot lines as Brothers, but that's neither here nor there.
Anyway, Brothers is a very good, well-acted, and surprisingly realistic film. I worried originally after watching the trailer, as the police stand-off at the end looked like a giant cop-out that's been used so many times in films: the writers can't think of a realistic solution to the film, so they decide to have someone flip out and get killed. Fortunately, that's not the case. Brothers features a very "adult" script, where nothing is over-romanticized (despite my wish that it was... Jake and Natalie, so dreamy together...). Jake Gyllenhaal and Natalie Portman are excellent as they always are, and Tobey Maguire surprised me. I've never been a big fan of his (he was decent in the Spider-Man series, but they could have found someone better), but he was solid throughout Brothers. What surprised me was how excellent he was at the end of the film when he lost his shit. I was amazed at how well he portrayed his character.
Brothers is a good film that's just shy of a great one. Jim Sheridan does a good job considering his last film was 50 Cent's Get Rich or Die Trying (to be fair, he's made some excellent films before that, but it's always fun to poke fun of the failures). But I definitely would recommend Brothers to those looking for a drama not made for the Twilight generation.
Anyway, Brothers is a very good, well-acted, and surprisingly realistic film. I worried originally after watching the trailer, as the police stand-off at the end looked like a giant cop-out that's been used so many times in films: the writers can't think of a realistic solution to the film, so they decide to have someone flip out and get killed. Fortunately, that's not the case. Brothers features a very "adult" script, where nothing is over-romanticized (despite my wish that it was... Jake and Natalie, so dreamy together...). Jake Gyllenhaal and Natalie Portman are excellent as they always are, and Tobey Maguire surprised me. I've never been a big fan of his (he was decent in the Spider-Man series, but they could have found someone better), but he was solid throughout Brothers. What surprised me was how excellent he was at the end of the film when he lost his shit. I was amazed at how well he portrayed his character.
Brothers is a good film that's just shy of a great one. Jim Sheridan does a good job considering his last film was 50 Cent's Get Rich or Die Trying (to be fair, he's made some excellent films before that, but it's always fun to poke fun of the failures). But I definitely would recommend Brothers to those looking for a drama not made for the Twilight generation.
No comments:
Post a Comment