Download The Brave One DivX ($2.99), iPod / iPhone ($1.99)
It sounds like a cinematic dream team – Oscar winner Jodie Foster working with acclaimed director Neil Jordan (The Crying Game) on The Brave One, a revenge fantasy film set in New York City.
Throw in a hot talent like Terrence Howard and you’ve got the makings of a modern classic, right? Alas The Brave One falls far short of expectations, and while Howard and Foster make an intriguing onscreen pairing their scenes together don’t redeem the rest of the picture, which is by turns bleak and improbable.
Foster plays Erica Bain, a radio host whose shtick is spinning tales about her beloved Big Apple. She’s engaged to a doctor (Naveen Andrews), and it seems the biggest problem in their lives is what colour of paper to use for the wedding invitations. But all that changes one night as they’re taking their dog out for a walk in the park – they’re set upon by a group of vicious thugs and brutally assaulted as the whole thing is recorded for Internet broadcast. The attack leaves Bain’s fiancé dead and Bain clinging to life.
And though she recovers physically, mentally she’s still a mess over what’s happened and immediately goes out to buy a 9mm gun for protection. When she’s out one night and witnesses a murder she ends up killing the perpetrator in self-defense. The experience leaves her initially anxious but then self-righteous, and the next time she comes upon someone up to no good she pulls the trigger without flinching. Suddenly she’s become a different person, a revenge-driven vigilante, and seems all too comfortable in that skin.
Foster has played the victim before, first as a teenage hooker in Taxi Driver, and then as a rape victim in The Accused, a role that netted her a Best Actress Academy Award. Like the characters she played in those two previous films, Erica Bain isn’t about to take the injustice of what happened to her lightly. But where things differ is with her refusal to rely on anyone else for help, opting instead to take matters violently into her own hands.
There’s humour in The Brave One, and the scenes of violence are peppered with Bruce Willis-esque one-liners. Trouble is, because the subject matter here is much darker than a Die Hard movie, the jokes don’t work.
The best scenes in the film are Bain’s thought-provoking discussions with Det. Sean Mercer (Howard), who’s investigating her crimes but believes he’s looking for a male shooter. Howard and Foster have good chemistry, and the scenes where he starts to wonder if his confidant is also the person he’s looking for are suspenseful.
The Brave One really unravels in its final act, with an implausible and melodramatic ending that isn’t in keeping with one of the character’s previous actions.
As far as Foster’s body of work goes, I’d rank The Brave One above stinkers like Flightplan and Panic Room, but not up to the quality of a Silence of the Lambs or an Inside Man. And Neil Jordan’s done better with the aforementioned The Crying Game and Breakfast on Pluto.
Not all cinematic collaborations produce good results, regardless of the formidable talents involved – and The Brave One will likely go down as a forgettable misstep in the otherwise impressive careers of both.
Download The Brave One DivX ($2.99), iPod / iPhone ($1.99)
1408.