Certain films are like watching an England World Cup campaign. You approach them with hope, tempered by underlying expectation of disappointment. Brothers is a perfect example. Director Jim Sheridan's early films (My Left Foot, In The Name Of The Father) crackled with a righteous anger and honesty, yet in the seven years prior to Brothers his only cinematic release has been 2005's Get Rich Or Die Tryin' - a creaking 50 Cent vehicle that even Tim Westwood, with all his ride-pimping skills, wouldn't be able to enhance.

Similar doubts surround the film's leads. Tobey Maguire quickly established a reputation for playing oddly likeable thousand-yard-stare adolescents, but as the roles have become more mainstream his acting has been increasingly mannered. His career nadir came in the jazz club scene in the dire Spider-Man 3, where he mugged and gurned like a webshooting Mr Bean. Jake Gyllenhaal has only come close on a couple of occasions (in Brokeback Mountain and Zodiac) to fulfilling the quirky promise he showed in Donnie Darko, with thumpingly dull, phoned-in roles in movies such as The Good Girl, The Day After Tomorrow, Jarhead and Rendition becoming the norm rather than the exception. As for Natalie Portman, she's cornered the market in irritating cutness to such an extent that it's a wonder Hasbro hasn't added her to its My Little Pony toy range.

If these negative omens weren't enough, there's also the fact that Brothers is a remake of the 2004 Danish film Brødre. If the road to hell is paved with good intentions, it's also the case that Hollywood Boulevard is covered with well-meaning but ultimately awful retreads of European arthouse films (m'lud, I present The Vanishing, Vanilla Sky and I Think I Love My Wife).

Yet it seems that hope does spring eternal because Brothers is actually a solid, well-acted drama. Maguire plays Sam Cahill, a Marine captain who loves his job and is equally dedicated to his wife Grace (Portman) and their two young daughters. Shortly before Sam embarks on his fourth tour of duty to Afghanistan, his younger brother Tommy (Gyllenhaal) is released from prison after serving time for armed robbery. Tommy is Sam's flipside - irresponsible, wayward and unbalanced - but traumatic events result in a radical realignment of the brothers' lives and of everyone around them.

Unsurprisingly, given his theatrical background, Sheridan's greatest strength is that he's an actor's director. Here, he coaxes fines performances out of all concerned. Maguire is back to his best, vulnerable and fragile one moment, trembling with tightly-coiled ferocity the next. Gyllenhaal is equally effective in a less showy role, giving glimpses of beneath-the-surface struggles that pay dividends as the plot develops. Portman is far removed from her usual pixie screen persona and anchors the film with an excellently understated performance.

Despite its title, Brothers doesn't confine itself to Sam and Tommy's fraternal relationship. Sam Shephard, as their Viet vet father, has a revealing role that hints at a history of dysfunction within the Cahill clan, while Sam and Grace's daughters Isabelle (Bailee Madison, superb) and Maggie (Taylor Geare) play out a sibling rivalry which echoes that of their father and uncle.

Brothers may be short on surprises, but it's an impressive study of a fractured family in extreme circumstances. Which reminds me... Come on England!

Brothers (Lionsgate) is out now on Blu-ray and DVD.

Colin Houlson