The Brave One (2007) Warner Bros.
2 hrs. 2 mins.
Starring: Jodie Foster, Terrence Howard, Naveen Andrews
Directed by: Neil Jordan
This film is rated: R

Rating: ** stars (out of 4 stars)

The psychological justice-seeking drama The Brave One has an impressive force behind its calculating moodiness. First, filmmaker Neil Jordan's ("The Crying Game") noteworthy name is attached to this gritty project. Secondly, two-time Academy Award winner Jodie Foster--usually smart in her dramatic decisions--is on board to ensure the authenticity of the urban realism. Thirdly, the dashing presence of a talented performer such as the Oscar-nominated Terrence Howard ("Hustle and Flow", "Crash") compliments Foster's determined and focused heroine. The real question--however--remains this: why is it that the well-intentioned but uneven revenge saga The Brave One comes away as a thinly veiled and overly pretentious crime caper?

Jordan does have a sense for the mean streets of New York City and fosters an ominous aura about urban crime. However, this slight vigilante vehicle feels exhaustive and grubby in execution. One cannot dismiss the inevitable comparisons that The Brave One may trigger thanks to compelling fare such as Foster's own classic Taxi Driver and the guilty pleasure cult-like appeal of the Charles Bronson Death Wish movie series. Whereas these films--the aforementioned Taxi Driver in particular--had a sense of stimulating seediness and appreciation for blood-thirsty comeuppance, Jordan's Brave delves into a showy yet sluggish crime drama that incorporates all the cliched parts of a fatalistic fantasy audiences have seen over and over.

Both Foster and Howard are marvelous and disciplined performers but these actors are trapped in this hyperactive maze of a pandering potboiler that wants to swim in a shark-infested sea of paranoia and vicious-minded victimization. If anything, The Brave One comes off as an exploitative excuse to riff on the cynical sentiment of inner city malaise. Jordan never fully captures the tension of a crime-ridden landscape drenched with hopelessness and desperation. The motivation for Brave stems from having Foster's harried heroine turn into a far-fetched, one-woman shooting gallery without any concrete or corrosive rhythm. There's never any element of urgency that suggests Foster's imperiled on-screen predicament. Jordan's narrative is too dour to be considered anything more than a lofty showcase for Foster to flex her angst-ridden muscles.

This revenge-flavored thriller stars Foster as radio talk host Erica Bain from the Big Apple's "Street Walk" program. Erica adores her cosmopolitan surroundings and sings the praises of New York City as her safe haven for existence. The audience will be tipped off soon enough as she will eat crow about her massive city's reputation. Nevertheless, Erica shares with her listeners the positive vibes of the glitzy Big City.

The pom-poms are finally put away when the city violence suddenly makes her a disbeliever thus contradicting her earlier sentiments. When a group of street thugs claim the life of her lover/physician David (Naveen Andrews from ABC-TV's "Lost") as they stroll though Central Park with their dog, Erica is left in a comatose state and left for dead. She wakes up in the hospital to learn the ugly fate of her late companion. Apparently, the cops are about as useful as a cardboard bulletproof vest. Plus, Erica's cheerful view of her cherished city is completely shattered. So what is the angelic airwaves talkmaster going to do in the aftermath of her disillusionment?

Erica wastes no time in seeking her own kind of justice--vigilante justice! Let's just say that the late Charlie Bronson would be proud of her next move. Hastily, Erica purchases a pistol on the black market and develops a steady eye for being an impeccable crack-shot that would make Annie Oakley jealous to no end. So it's lookout time for the scum of the earth as Erica seeks out the menacing souls that patrol the shady-looking dark streets.

As Erica recklessly eliminates the countless "undesirables" with her alienated status in tow, a befuddled but dedicated detective named Sean Mercer (Terrence Howard) doggedly tracks the vigilante's trail not knowing that this is the devastating work of a woman. Better yet, Mercer doesn't even realize that his culprit is the garrulous Erica Bain--an on-air personality that he actually listens to from time to time. The twist--as clever as the filmmakers would like to believe in this case--has Erica seeking out interviews with Mercer even though SHE is the one leaving bodies left and right for him to uncover. In the long run, Erica and Mercer are tied together in this cat-and-mouse game of deception.

Jordan, along with screenwriters Cynthia Mort, Bruce A. Taylor and Roderick Taylor, get very cutesy with the plot contrivances and play on the atmospheric pressure that beleaguers Foster's disenchanted radio personality and Howard's weary yet smooth-looking cop. The film wants to invite viewers to soak up the melodramatic momentum with a feisty Foster at the excitable helm. Still, the script never balances the verve of Foster's/Howard's cynicism with the lame attempt to justify the overwrought culture of citywide lowlifes on the run. We are never convinced if Foster's Erica Bain is an unwilling victim of her unpredictable environment or a spoiled aggressor that selfishly wants to cater to her own self-serving devices. Even if she represents a little bit of both factors, Jordan fills up on the nonsensical madness without giving any credibility to the motive for massacre other than an instant knee-jerk retaliation to Erica's sudden disbelief. Yes, people do snap when confronted with adversity but Foster's Erica shows no dimensional boldness behind her ambiguous outrage.

There is an indescribable impulsiveness about The Brave One that resonates occasionally when the slow burn of the characters' inner conflict compliments the random carnage. The problem remains, however, is that the build-up of the so-called sadistic goings-on feels more of a carnival-seeking edginess than the serious-minded commentary the movie was striving for in its quest for intriguing introspection. Jordan does manage to craft a crisp-looking, simmering flick that establishes a morbid mass visually with a stark cinematography and a soothing soundtrack that ruffles the emotional feathers.

Foster has had her share of hit and misses when being the head cheerleader behind some of Hollywood's brand-name psychological offerings. For every titillating performance that Foster has carved out with her believable vulnerability (her Oscar-winning turns in "Silence of the Lambs" and "The Accused", "Panic Room") she has had some mediocre exposure in lackluster fare such as "Flightplan". It is not often that Foster is considered meager in any movie role because she is one of Tinseltown's most inventive, resourceful and resilient actresses/filmmakers working today in cinema. In Brave, Foster looks as if she's going through the typical motions as an unlikely shadowy skirt-wearing avenger out for some strained vengeance. It's almost a gimmicky spectacle watching Foster chase down vermin and blowing them away as if she was in some overactive penny arcade.

Howard is his usual stylish and debonair self and tries to challenge the complexity of his cop characterization with confident aplomb. The transparent material, sad to say, doesn't register properly for the major talents that are Foster and Howard. Somehow the sinister spirit is watered down and The Brave One does not escape the rudimentary confines of a pseudo-sensationalistic shoot 'em up urban actioner.

Clearly, The Brave One has its pivotal moments where the suspense features a B-movie bloodbath that may be appealing to some demographic that wants a fancy pants chic chick to "bust a cap in someone's ass". Despite its constant flexing for metro pavement pathos, Foster and company are better than this weak-kneed wake up call to rotted urban-structured destruction.

Frank Ochieng
@ World Voice News (2007)