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Good movie with lots of similarities to the old Charles Bronson films of the Death Wish series. This time, the roles are reversed and Jody Foster as New Yorker Erica Bain. She is a talk show host on local radio. She and her fiancee, a doctor, are out for a walk with their dog in Central Park, when beset upon by a group of thugs. They were mugged, and her fiancee was beaten to death. Their dog, her ring, and her camera were stolen in the attack. Erica is left unconscious for three weeks. When she wakes up she meets a police detective, Mercer, who recognized her when she was brought in, and is interested in helping. Her case soon goes cold. Erica is terrified to leave her apartment and finds it difficult to return to work or even speak to people. So frightened, she buys a gun for self defense. Witnessing a domestic fight in a convenience store she uses it to defend herself. After this first shooting, Erica feels empowered and begins walking the streets at night, acting vulnerable and shooting her attackers. The police detective, Mercer, is after this "vigilante" killer and he is also a listener to her talk show, where she now has open discussions about this story. He asks her to sort of team up, not knowing that it is her. Eventually, her ring is discovered at a pawn shop. The woman who pawned it said that she got it from her boyfriend. He is arrested and Erica is brought in to look at a lineup. She recognizes him as one of their attackers, bud says that she doesn't identify him. She want's to kill him. Tracking down the girlfriend who recognized her from the video in the stolen camera. One of the muggers videoed the entire altercation. She gives it to Erica and Erica sends it to Mercer's telephone with a "Good-bye". She is going to kill them all and is sure she will also be killed. She killed all but the one who actually killed her boyfriend. He got her gun and was going to kill her, but Mercer got there and made him drop the gun. Erica picks up the gun and wants to shoot him but Mercer won't let her. Instead he took her gun and gave her his gun, and let her shoot him with the police gun, then instructed her to shoot him in the shoulder. Then he told her to get out of there and go home. The killing was all blamed on the gang.Read full review
If a producer wanted to remake “Death Wish” (the ultimate vigilante movie) in today’s terms, he could go one of two ways: Either overexploit the violence, or redo the movie with another type of lead character: perhaps one that is softer, more believable in the title role. Jodi Foster has both characteristics. A chameleon of sorts, she is equally adept at playing both sides of the coin. In “The Brave One” (inappropriately named, by the way), Foster tries to foster more than just a revenge motive for removing the bad guys. Instead, she gets caught up chasing her own stoic shadow from vengeful murder to murder. From a purely watch able standpoint, the movie moves along with an evenness and steady pace. It is punctuated by some hinky overdub dialog by Foster as she underlines and bolds certain points to the audience. The first viewing of this movie may or may not evoke the feelings the director tried to convey, but a repeat reviewing will more than likely be seen as slightly annoying on several aspects. Foster’s character maintains a pronounced sadness all throughout the performance, easily enough actable, but doesn’t carry the depth to fully motivate the viewer into a real sense of empathy. Far too many times, Foster is put into scenes where tragedy forces her hand, but of course, in her hand is a gun. Terrence Howard is stupendous, however, and should command top dollar fees for his next acting experiences based on what he conveyed in the “Brave One.” The interplay of the two is understated, and is full of eyebrow raising and lowering. Both souls are connected by the necessity to put to rest the evil that poisons each persons home town. One defends the city, the other defends her sanity. The end result is a movie that won’t leave you feeling good, but will probably define for watchers what many crime victims feel they could do, at least initially after a brutal attack. The resolution for fighting extreme evil is often to combat it with an equal bluntness, and disregard for rules. Jeff Feezle of MacafeezRead full review
...than Kevin Bacon's 'Death Sentence'; however, we also see Jodie Foster unbelievably become thrown into some precarious deadly situations of her own as well in this film. Synopsis: In the vein of Charles Bronson's successful 'Death Wish' series, in this film, Jodie Foster portrays Erica Bain, a radio program personality who is happily engaged to a doctor and who is finalizing plans for her wedding day. That evening, she and her fiancé decide to take their dog for a walk through New York City's Central Park. After the three enter a tunnel, they are brutally attacked and robbed by a group of street thugs. Erica just barely survives, but her fiancé was brutally beaten to death and their dog was taken from them by the street thugs. Three weeks later after waking-up from a semi-comatose state in the hospital, Erica learns that her fiancé had been murdered. Filled with rage, she sets-off to take matters into her own hands...with the police detectives just one step behind her. She buys a 'black market' 9mm pistol and a box of ammo and goes about her way. Unable to now sleep at night, she finds herself roaming the streets of New York City, and unrealistically, she finds herself in several precarious situations where she must use her 9mm to dispose of various attackers. She eventually succeeds in locating the original perpetrators who had so dramatically changed her life a few months earlier, and with the help of the lead detective (played by Terrence Howard) with whom she had developed a close bond to during the film, she eliminates the last of the bad guys with a bullet to his head; thus, finally ending her hunt for vengeance. As usual, Jodie Foster does a great job acting here, plus I was also satisfied with the film's ending, as it was done quite well; however, it does leave room for a possible sequel or two... as the others which were done in the same vein have alluded to as well?Read full review
For the 2nd Time within 2 Weeks comes a major violent movie; in which a "Crime Victim turns Hunter" to 'Exact Revenge'. Kevin Bacon's 'Death Sentence' (SEE MY REVIEW), was the first one out of the gate; and 'The Brave One' is 'by no means' faultering 2nd out-of-the-gate. Addressing middle-class fears of Urban Crime and Violence; 'The Brave One' is a revenge-thirsty 'Death Wish' that would make even Charles Bronson proud. 'The Brave One'; with an A-List Director in Neil Jordan and Top-Flight Talent in stars Jodie Foster and Terrence Howard is more a combined genius of paranoia, revenge and brutality that succeeds in having it "both ways". Seeking Vengeance — and not necessarily against solely the people who have actually wronged her — Radio Talk Jock Erica (Foster) feel guilty; but does not stop from making like Charles Bronson and continuing her "One-Woman Vigilante Campaign". Like 'Death Sentence', 'The Brave One' holds a plot that engages when good people make the mistake of crossing into a land where rules of civilized behavior do not apply. Bacon stopped at a gas station in a bad neighborhood; Erica's Doctor Fiancé David ('Lost's' Naveen Andrews) distractedly throws a ball into a park's lonely tunnel for his dog. When he and Erica step inside to discover what has become of the animal, a group of louts step from the shadows savagely beating and robbing the couple. She (Foster) awakens from a Coma days later to a radically changed world. The woman who hosts the insipid Talk Show that extols the 'Joys of New York City' now fears the place. She does not want to leave her apartment....and then she buys a gun. The weapon is for protection; but then forced to - she uses it one night in a case of self-defense, (her first step in transforming into an Urban Hunter). Soon, the tabloids are full of the exploits of this Local Hero. A Detective, Mercer (Howard), takes charge of the Investigation, vowing to catch someone he regards as no better than the Murdered Criminals. Erica is wracked by guilt, but has the prescence of mind to cover the case on her show and to befriend Mercer. The vigilante disgusts him; he is a good Cop who believes in the Justice System, even as he privately admits to Erica its failure when it comes to a case that has long obsessed him. 'The Brave One' is viscerally-effective. Foster's histrionics quickly grows. Erica's guilt festers into Vengeance; and becomes less disingenuous, as she begins to continually troll for strangers to dispatch under the merky sides of dark. But can this ultimately be drawn to any peaceful end? Straight-Up Revenge has created a Warrior; one who has had enough of being a victim; enough of watching others become victims; and has chosen to extol her Virtue and Judgement upon the wicked. Bravo !! Bravo !! SEE THIS !!!!Read full review
Charles Bronson? Move Over! Wow, what's the body count on this one? Nine, (9 for vengeance) I think. Well, if you , live in a plastic bubble in New York City (or anywhere else for that matter), hoping that nothing bad would ever happen to you, then I truly get this movie so that you can learn how to react after a traumatic event. There is something terribly wrong with the character Erica Bain (Jodie Foster) wondering "Why don't they stop me?" from my killing spree. But, why turn bitter over an incident and kill others yourself unless you wanted to turn into a paranoid schizophrenic psycho vigilante stalker killer female? The answer is, so we can all relive the terror ourselves in the comfort of our own homes. For some odd reason, a piece of hilarious trivia has circulated its way into the mainstream which goes like this: Release prints were delivered to theaters with the fake title "Sweet Revenge". This film just seemed for me to be this drawn out stereotype filled bore-fest with "Middle Aged Blonde Hair, Blue Eyed Woman fights back against the Big Bad Male minorities in NEW YORK and gets her kicks!" Sorry that I feel that way, but I didn't even really think this could really be a "chick" thing either. I think most females don't even relate to this sort of violence anyway. I really like Jodie Foster in a lot of different films, but this one was better left undone by her, or anyone else for that matter. I'm going to give this 3/5 for the acting of Jodie Foster and Terrence Howard. IF YOU LIKE MY REVIEWS PLEASE DON'T HESITATE TO LET ME KNOW BY VOTING. THANKS.Read full review
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