The Brave One
Posted by admin | Posted in Movies | Posted on 07-11-2010
5
Description
“Why don‘t they stop me?” Erica Bain wonders. Bain, a popular N.Y radio host, watched her fiancé die and nearly lost her own life to a vicious, random attack. Now she discovers a stranger within herself, an armed wanderer in the urban night, out for vengeance and at war with her own soul. Two-time Academy Award winner Jodie Foster, as Erica, joins Oscar nominee Terrence Howard, as a determined cop hot on her trail. Erica?s future is uncertain, but one thing is not: THE B… More >>
Trauma, severe trauma, can unleash aspects of the human personality that may appear as a stranger within. Such is the premise for this well-constructed film by Neil Jordan (screenplay by Roderick Taylor and Bruce Taylor), and while the neither concept of trauma-altered personality or revenge tales is new, THE BRAVE ONE alters the vengeance idea just enough to make it credible and to even draw the viewer into believing that what the character is doing is justified and right! And that is perhaps the most frightening aspect of this terrifying film.
Erica Bain (Jodie Foster) is a night radio talk show performer, a woman who walks the city of New York gathering sounds and observing the mysteries of the ‘safest big city’ and relates her observations poetically to a large radio audience. Erica is engaged to young physician David (Naveen Andrews) and the couple are very much in love. One night on an evening stroll with their dog they are attacked by thugs, beaten with pipes, and David is killed while Erica narrowly survives. Upon awakening from her coma she is devastated by her loss of David and becomes a strangely haunted woman, unable to sleep, unable to get immediate help from the police, and turns to purchasing a gun in an attempt to right the wrongs she has suffered. This new ‘person’ or ‘stranger within’ happens to witness a murder in a little store and to her amazement she responds by killing the murderer. A similar situation happens on the subway where two thugs threaten people, threaten Erica, and Erica again responds by killing the thugs. She feels driven to avenge the death of her David, but at the same time fears her own inner stranger. Erica returns to her radio show, under changing instructions form her boss Carol (Mary Steenburgen), and finds the changes in her psyche result in bracing her listeners about fear on the streets. In her audience is Detective Mercer (Terrence Howard) who has personal problems related to the fact that he has been unable to arrest a known killer. Mercer connects with Erica in various ways, she interviews him for her show, and the two bond. Erica trusts Mercer, wants to share what she is doing, yet hears his frustration about not being able to seek his own brand of revenge frustration against the oily killer he pursues, and decides to eliminate that trauma for Mercer. As the tension builds, the identity of Erica’s assailants is discovered, and how she deals with these thugs (and with Mercer’s interaction in the solution) forms the surprising ending for the film.
Too little has been written and said about the quality of performances from both Foster and Howard in this tense thriller. These two actors deliver performances so sensitive in execution that memories of previous similar films evaporate. This is a tough film to watch for all the violence not only on the screen but from within the characterizations by the actors (with the capable direction of Neil Jordan), but it is for this viewer one of the strongest films of the year. Perhaps now that the DVD can be viewed within the safety of the home more people will pay attention to a film that deserves awards. Grady Harp, February 08
Rating: 5 / 5
The Brave One continues Jodie Foster’s recent foray into the thriller genre. So far, she’s produced some pretty good results. She shouldn’t be embarassed by either Panic Room, Flightplan, or The Brave One. The writing, directing, and co-stars (Terrence Howard, Naveen Andrews, etc…) are all excellent and Foster is Foster.
Foster plays Erica Bain, an engaged NPR-type radio show host. One night, she and her fiance are walking in Central Park, and are viciously robbed and attacked. Her fiance is killed, and Erica is basically robbed of her happy existence by being at the wrong place at the wrong time. Deciding that revenge is the only way for her to cope with her loss, she proceeds to buy a gun and go on the prowl for her attackers, while developing a friendship with a cop (played by Howard) working on the cases she creates with her vigilantism.
The Brave One shows how a traumatic event can leave psychological scars that are much worse than those of the physical variety. The movie is well-acted, and even if the ending seems unlikely, it seems fair given what has taken place.
The Brave One is a very enjoyable film about a not-so-enjoyable subject – severe trauma and its aftermath. It comes highly recommended.
Rating: 5 / 5
“The Brave One is an examination of what it might take for a real person to become a vigilante, an examination of what might drive a normal woman to become judge, jury, and executioner.” Josh Taylor
Erica Bane played by Jodie Foster is one of those women you want to emulate. She is a free wheeling, honest, liberated woman who loves her job and her man. She works for an NPR like station in the ‘safest large city in the world”. Her voice is authentic and sexy, intelligent and draws you into her world. She loves her life until…Erica and her fiancee are walking their dog one evening in Central Park when they are both assaulted by a team of thugs. Erica is badly beaten, and her fiancee is beaten to death. One moment in time when your life is unalterably forever changed.
Erica takes three week to recover from her head injury and she goes home, alone to her empty apartment. It takes her days to weeks to obtain the courage to walk out the front door. This tragedy has left her changed, she lives in fear, but she finally determines she will no longer allow the fear to rule her life. Erica buys a gun. She is weak and fearful but she cannot sleep. So, Erica walks the streets at night. She witnesses a convenience store murder and in self defense kills the perpetrator. In this one instance Erica faced her fears and killed them with a gun. As time goes on, Erica faces her fears with her anger spurring her on. What is it that is pushing Erica on? In my mind it is facing her fears and surviving. The film is brilliant in its depiction of Erica facing these fears- her anxiety, her grief. The film gives Erica enough time to explore the confusion, frustration and sadness that envelopes her. This is an extraordinary performance by Jodie Foster, one of her best.
Into the picture comes a police detective played by Terrence Howard. This is one of the most believable performances I have seen. My eyes were opened to this man with his sexy, open, honest performance. He is the only member of the police department who actually listens to Erica. She is torn and tormented by what she is doing but she can’t stop.
The grit and determination, the reality of a life living and facing your fears is open for a look within. What this terror, grief, and violence does your life is open for us to view. The clues left and discovered by the police detective is also open for us to view. An extraordinary film that does not gloss over nor trivialize the passion, fears and self loathing that becomes pervasive. I was truly mesmerized by these performances and the film.
Highly Recommended. prisrob 02-07-98
The Accused
Spark
Rating: 5 / 5
***1/2
Call it the Sword of Damocles Syndrome of filmmaking, but anytime characters seem just a little too happy at the beginning of a movie we know that some unspeakable catastrophe is just waiting to befall them.
In the case of Erica Bain and David Kirmani, that event is catastrophic indeed. Erica and David are a deliriously contented couple eagerly making plans for their upcoming marriage. One night, while walking their dog in Central Park, the two are attacked by a gang of hooligans who kill David and leave Erica beaten, battered and clinging to life in a weeks-long coma. When she wakes up, Erica has trouble coming to terms with the terror brought on by what has happened to her and buys herself an illegal firearm, initially as a means of protecting herself from any future assault. Quickly, however, she finds another use for the weapon, namely to go roaming around town eliminating any threatening malefactors unfortunate enough to wander across her path.
It’s impossible to discuss “The Brave One” without making at least a passing reference to 1974`s “Death Wish,” the archetype for all those urban vigilante melodramas that became so popular in the 1970′s and 1980′s. Erica pretty much fits the mold of those earlier antihero figures (despite the one obvious difference that she is a woman), although the writers – Roderick Taylor, Bruce A. Taylor and Cynthia Mort – and director Neil Jordan bring an added psychological dimension to the character (it might be nothing more than pop psychology, for all we know, but at least it’s something). The filmmakers work hard at trying to explore Erica’s motives for what she’s doing, even if one of the themes of the movie seems to be that there may not BE any real explanation for her actions. Erica is a woman suffering the ravages of not only the grief of losing her fiance, but the fear, paranoia and psychological dislocation that result from violent trauma. Erica – who hosts a radio talk show whose theme seems to be reflections on city living – keeps telling both us and her audience that she is no longer the same person she was before the incident and that she will never be that person again.
Like “Death Wish,” “The Brave One” is clearly more of a dark urban fantasy than a work of stark documentary-style realism. The filmmakers never make the logistics of Erica’s killing spree all that convincing, but neither do they descend to the level of cheap exploitative rabblerousing one might expect from such a premise. The climax is not entirely plausible given the nature of one of the characters, but at least it avoids the easy, pro-law-and-order cliché it appears at first glance to be on its way to embracing.
As Erica, Jodie Foster gets to play the Travis Bickle character this time around (though she is more righteous and considerably less unbalanced than her “Taxi Driver” predecessor), purging the city of bad guys and making the streets once again safe for decent, law-abiding citizens. Her gun-toting Angel of Vengeance character may be a bit of a stereotype at this point, but Foster imbues her with enough humanity and depth to make her interesting. The pain and torment Erica is feeling is often made palpable for the audience through Foster’s multi-layered, emotionally complex performance. She gets strong support from Terrance Howard, who does stellar work as the compassionate homicide detective assigned to investigate the killings, as well as from Naveen Andrews (“Lost”) and Mary Steenburgen in smaller but nevertheless crucial roles.
As a “study of violence,” “The Brave One” pretty much leaves it up to the viewers to sift through and sort out their own complex feelings on the subject. The movie neither glorifies nor condemns, neither endorses nor berates Erica for her actions. It tries to understand her, but it doesn’t feel called upon to judge her. The filmmakers may, indeed, be copping out by not putting forth a clear message on the topic, but this noncommittal approach actually makes the movie more thoughtful and authentic. Some may be enraged by the film, while others may be enthralled by it. But few will have no strong opinion on “The Brave One” one way or the other – and that’s what makes movie watching ultimately worthwhile.
Rating: 3 / 5
Its not a terrible movie but it’s nothing to tell your friends about. Its full of cliches as just about any person who’s seen the trailers will expect. Terrence Howard, who I consider a very talented actor, doesn’t pull off the cop character all that well. His character as well most of the story line is unbelievable and inconsistent. Jodi Foster is okay.
I wanted to see this movie because, it was only 2 bucks and I like the whole vigilante idea. There problem is there were too many themes going on in this movie with no one in particular standing out or appearing original. Still some of the revenge scenes were kinda fun…
A note about the Amazon service.
Downloading was a cinch but the download manager you install seems to take up a lot of memory. The file was huge, but this is probably due to a high frame rate or something. Color looks good too. The resolution is horrendous though. I watched it on my computer screen about 5 feet away and you can see the image divided into tiny little digital blocks. This becomes really apparent when looking at diagonal lines or curves but where its the absolute worse is if there is any sort of text on the screen. It looks pixel-like and is virtually unreadable. They really need to fix that.
Rating: 3 / 5