Review of The Brave One (2007) by Mandela W — 05 Jun 2016

Jodie Foster is one hell of an actress. I saw her in taxi driver less than 2 years ago and she was remarkable in that. I think the first time I saw her though was in Panic Room with a young Kristen Stewart and she was pretty good. However now the work I've gone back and checked out of her is really something. I recently saw Money Monster and she is a fabulous director and both as that and actress she knows how to tell a story. Here in the brave one she plays a radio host who is haunted by the death of her Boyfriend but slowly becomes more confident and more willing to fight back against mindless thugs in the street. The Brave one is a solid crime thriller from the 2 time Oscar winner.

Foster plays Erica Bain a radio host in New York. She is dating her boyfriend david who works in a hospital. One night on a stroll through the park the two of them come across 3 thugs who give them some trouble. The thugs then proceed to sexually harass Erica and then beat david to death. Erica also gets beaten but manages to survive. reeling from the death of her lover Erica decides to get an illegal firearm to protect her self. As the movie progresses Erica quickly learns how to use it as she kills any criminal that tries to attack her or the weak. This attracts the attention of detective Sean Mercer who is hot on her trail.

It's a real gritty picture with good cinematography. Pacing was pretty decent and it also had really interesting lighting usage. For director Neil Jordan this was a much better directorial effort than The Crying Game. He gives us a more precise more intriguing crime story. He gets a great performance out of Jodie foster, Terrence howard among others.

Speaking of Jodie foster, she gets pretty intense here at times. However erica is also a really broken soul that has her guard up more than ever after that incident. it was an interesting choice having Erica bain be a radio dj that could in a poetic manner tell the people about your home and all that makes up that particular place good and bad. in this case its NY. Took me a while to also notice how clever it was to have the character's profession be something where people don't see you as she is a vigilante who also for a while goes unseen. Erica gets more confident and more trigger ready than before and it really shows at the end.

In conclusion The Brave One is an excellent picture that even shows New York in a poetic and deep light.