Review of The Brave One (2007) by Michael M — 18 May 2010

I love revenge films. It's probably my favorite sub-genre of film. Whether it's Bruce Lee avenging his martial arts master in Fist of Fury, or Denzel Washington systematically slaughtering those responsible for a kidnapping in Man on Fire. There's just something incredibly satisfying about the classic vigilante story, seeing characters you love to hate get what's coming to them. Before any of you pull out that Gandhi quote of "an eye for an eye makes the whole world blind," let me remind you, these are movies, not real life. Movies can provide a lot of things, and in the case of The Brave One, they provide a twisted satisfaction in seeing a justice we will likely never see in real life.

The outline of The Brave One almost sounds like a superhero origin story. Erica (Jodie Foster) and her fiancé David (Naveen Andrews) are victims of a random attack in Central Park. Traumatized and "changed" from the event, Erica begins to seek out and kill criminals in the city, in hopes of eventually finding her attackers. It's basic stuff yes, but it works well. The acting is spot on, the director makes us conflicted about how we should feel about Erica's actions, and all the characters who are killed are people you simply love to hate...maybe a bit too much actually, which leads me to this film's biggest problem.

None of Erica's victims even seem human. They all feel like evil incarnate. Yes, there are unfortunately people in real life like those in this film, but I felt that this was embellished a bit too much. The most prominent moment of this is the scene where Erica and David are attacked in the park which lasts 2.5 minutes, followed by another minute of them at the hospital, gratuitously compared with them having sex. In addition, there are about 5 minutes of build up to the park attack, as you just sit there waiting for something bad to happen. That's 8.5 minutes total. I watch a lot of violent movies, I've seen movies where people are literally torn apart, and I can honestly say that I have never felt more uncomfortable watching a movie then I did during those 8.5 minutes. I felt physically ill during the attack scene, and I almost stopped watching the movie after that. The scene was explicit, exceedingly violent, and quite unnecessary. A revenge film should make you hate the bad guys, that's part of the territory, but The Brave One took it too far in that it made any death those characters would inevitably face not feel like enough. .

So I've expressed what I disliked about the film, but what did I like? Well, pretty much everything else. The film is fast paced, well written, engaging, and often thought-provoking. There's also an interesting relationship between Erica and a detective (Terrence Howard) who is investigating the vigilante case without knowing she's responsible. Ultimately, those 8.5 minutes are the one detail that keeps this movie from perfection in my mind. Maybe it's even a testament to the film that it made me feel so strongly about a scene of violence without resorting to torture porn. The scene was really most shocking because it was the type of event that does happen in real life. Anyway though, when it comes down to it, The Brave One is a good movie, and one of the better revenge films out there. I can't call it perfect, and I can't say it was always entertaining; but it certainly left a mark on me, and any film that does that deserves some recognition in my book.