Captain Sam Cahill (Tobey Maguire) is a Marine going back for his fourth tour of duty in Afghanistan. His wife Grace (Natalie Portman) and two little girls understandably don’t want him to go back. Sam bails his brother Tommy (Jake Gyllenhaal) out on bail, he had apparently been harassing an ex girlfriend. Tommy has a drinking problem, and no job prospects. Sam’s helicopter is shot down in Afghanistan, and the military presumes him dead, but he is actually captured with another soldier, a private, Joe Willis (Patrick Fleuger) and they are both tortured by the Taliban. Back at home, Tommy, Grace and the girls slowly bond, they share a kiss and then suddenly learn that Sam is alive. How did Sam stay alive? What does Sam do when he finds out about his wife’s new closeness to his brother?
This is an ok movie, not great not bad, the story is predictable, and the ending is different than what I expected it to be. The only thing that sets this movie apart is Tobey Maguire’s ferocious performance. He does go overboard in a few scenes, but most of his performance is quite good, he is mostly seething with a quiet intensity. There are unexpectedly bland performances from Portman and Gyllenhaal, their roles have less pyrotechnics, but I thought they should have gotten more out of their roles. The little girls who play Maguire’s daughters are interesting, they have very divided loyalties between their father and uncle, and their mixed feelings provide a lot of the more interesting and intense moments. But ultimately, this is a formulaic and predictable movie.
Brothers. Siblings at war.
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