The Brave One

Posted by Brian C. Gibson (brian@filmschoolrejects.com) on September 14, 2007

Before seeing The Brave One I had not seen a trailer, but knew the synopsis, and still had no interest whatsoever. Sometimes a film can redeem itself by drawing an audience in with good action, performances, direction, story or any of the attributes that good films have. Walking away from the film, I can safely say that it was lacking in every department. I wouldn’t b lying if I said that The Brave One is one of the year’s best films…if I were only to finish that sentence with…starring Jodie Foster.

The film begins with a couple very much in love, and nearing the culmination of their engagement. Erica Baines (Jodie Foster) is a radio host who loves the streets of New York, and speaks of its lost treasures on her radio show every day. One night she and her fianc© take their dog to central park and end up in a deadly encounter. She is left beaten nearly to death and doesn’t regain consciousness until after her fianc©s funeral. Her case doesn’t seem to be receiving the attention that she feels would be appropriate. Slowly, the streets that she has spent her entire life loving, she now walks them in fear. Detective Mercer (Terrence Howard) is a cop searching for answers both personally and professionally. When he meets Erica he finds that she may be more than he had expected.

I had so many problems with this film, I lost count. So many gripes, so little time. This film has no identity whatsoever. Is it a vigilante crime movie, or a movie about a woman broken and desperate for answers? Is it both? What is the message of the movie? The only message that I came away from the film with, is that it is ok to carry out your revenge by killing people…as long as you have a friend who is a cop. The film shows how when life pushes you down, you are supposed to push back and then shoot life with a unregistered firearm.

The film was like a rollercoaster that teetered between total rubbish and peaking potential. What began as a total cliche with some edge, ended up a complete mess. Expect to see inappropriateness at every turn. For instance, I’m sure Sarah McLachlan wanted her music to backdrop scenes that showcase shootings and murders. Also, the director probably thought it was a great idea to contrast love and pain when he intertwines scenes of lovemaking and the couple’s badly injured and bloody bodies. It was just totally inappropriate to liken images of a man taking a woman’s clothes off while making love, to a doctor cutting a blood-soaked shirt off of Foster’s beaten body. Sure the film had powerful imagery, but at what cost?

The film was cliche garbage. I know that the idea of a female vigilante is cool to some, even me, but it wasn’t done well with The Brave One. After Erica had just been beaten half to death and can barely walk out of her apartment, which is shown by some completely unoriginal camera tilting and light filtering techniques, she decides to roam the streets at night. She buys a gun for protection, which I understand. It is when she walks into situations that present danger, where most people would look down at the ground and walk away, that the film totally lost me. If New York is really like anything in this film, I would never go there ever again.

She killed people without hesitation, almost to the point where if someone stepped on her shoe, I think she would have shot them. The ending, don’t get me started. There was so much wrong with this film, you just might need to see it for yourself. If you want a film with no morals, plot, or redeeming qualities then I think we have a winner.

The Upside: If you want to see a woman taking out aggression on men by shooting them, this is your film. Nicky Katt owns.

The Downside: Randomness at every turn, a film without identity or a message.

On the Side: Oddly enough, the first plot keyword for this film on IMDB is “Interracial Romance”.

Read more articles by Brian C. Gibson