Review of The Brave One (2007) by Alex P — 12 Dec 2012

Watching The Brave One brings to mind two strange pop cultural bedfellows: Death Wish and Buffy, the Vampire Slayer. The Death Wish similarity, that of a mild-mannered city dweller becoming a vigilante when their significant other is murdered, feels almost too gratuitous to waste the ink. Then, there is Buffy. In the wake of this TV cult hit, there was a slew of ass-kicking females populating the American zeitgeist?-and awesomely so (Aliens and Terminator came first, but Buffy seemed to start an actual trend). This said, putting a female in the title role is an inspired and not-so-farfetched twist of which the story wisely takes advantage (the cops and media assume that the vigilante is a man). Thankfully, the casting follows suit with brilliant choices of cat and mouse. The terribly misguided ending, however, is evidence that the screenwriters never committed to the material as fully as the cast and director.

The R-rated Brave One puts Foster in the role of radio talk show host Erica Bain, who enacts vigilante justice after surviving the vicious mugging that left her fiancé (Naveen Andrews) dead, much to the chagrin of a homicide detective (Howard).

Just like with Sam Peckinpah?s Straw Dogs, there is the use of excessive violence to make a point and the feeling that some overly enthusiastic moviegoers are missing this point. But the blame for this falls on the many scribes behind this malarkey. Their head-scratching ?feel good? ending somehow justifies the kooky lengths to which people like John Hinckley have gone.

Bottom Line: This revenge dish is served cold.