Sometimes two people who appear to be so different can end up having a lot more in common than you’d think. In “Brothers,” we watch an example of that and learn the importance of everyone’s role in a family.

Capt. Sam Cahill (Tobey Maguire) is about to depart on his fourth tour of duty, but that is of little concern to him. He instead focuses his attention on his younger brother Tommy (Jake Gyllenhaal), who has just been released from prison. As the family gathers later that night for dinner, tensions are high and it only takes a few strong words of disappointment, directed towards Tommy, to send the evening on a downward spiral.

Early the next morning Sam leaves for Afghanistan. On a seemingly routine mission, his helicopter is shot down and Sam, along with a private from his platoon, are captured by the enemy. With nobody to be found, Sam is assumed to be dead in the crash and the news is sent back home to his soon-to-be-devastated family.

After learning of his brother’s death, Tommy decides to shed his old ways and make something of himself. Filling in for his brother becomes the perfect opportunity, and he ends up becoming a common fixture in their everyday lives. As the pain seems to be receding, Sam is found during a rescue mission and sent back home to his family.

Everyone’s emotions are in turmoil. Tommy, takes the backseat upon his brother return but it soon becomes evident that his role in their lives is not yet over. Sam immediately begins acting out of his element and accuses his brother of sleeping with his wife. This becomes a frequent obsession and when paired together with the guilt he suffers from an incident while being held captive, he begins heading for the deep end.

Veteran director Jim Sheridan tries to remake an emotionally powerful movie while adding a little tenderness for the American viewer, and in certain aspects he succeeds. Feeding off of our obvious compassion for our troops never hurts. He was unfortunately not able to get as strong of a performance out of his actors as he usually does.

As with most remakes, the screenplay was very similar with a few minor changes in an attempt to feel fresh, although the changes seemed a little unnecessary and counter productive to the ultimate tone of the film.

Performance wise, the original exceeds the remake by far. Not to take anything away from the stars of this film — they are all extremely talented — but their performances were like a tracing — very little originality was added to their roles.

I might be bias because I saw “Brødre” first and thought Susanne Bier did a remarkable job at demolishing my emotional frame. Even though it’s in Danish, it is easily accessible to English speakers and therefore I don’t think the remake was necessary. However, what’s done is done and if you don’t mind feeling depressed for a little while afterwards, “Brothers” is a success.