Released: September 14th, 2007
Runtime: 2 hr. 2 min.
Ticket Price: $7.50 Matinee
Refreshments: Starburst
Starring: Jodie Foster, Terrence Howard, Naveen Andrews, Carmen Ejogo, Nicky Katt & Mary Steenburgen
Director: Neil Jordan
Rating: Worth an Early Matinee – 
Synopsis: A host of a New York City radio show and her fiancé are attacked brutally one night while walking their dog. She is hurt severely and almost dies, but he doesn’t make it. She is not able to get over what happened, barely able to leave her apartment for days, and starts a crusade of her own and ultimately find the people responsible. She prowls the streets at night in her pursuit justice. What she does, gets the attention of the press and the police. A police detective is tasked with tracking down the anonymous vigilante. While doing so, he also befriends the radio host. In the end, she must figure out whether she is becoming just like those who took her fiancé’s life or if she is doing right by him. All the while, the detective is getting closer and closer to figuring out who really is behind the chain of shootings.
Review: The Brave One is a slightly better than average vigilante thriller with some really good performances from Jodie Foster (Inside Man, Flightplan) and Terrence Howard (Pride, Get Rich or Die Tryin’). But, it moves along at a snails pace.
Foster plays radio show host Erica Bane. Her transformation from loving bride to be to frightened female to first time shooter to full-fledged kick-ass vigilante is something to watch. The gamut of emotions she goes through, as she becomes this whole other person, is stunning. She keeps you interested, as the movie drags on.
Howard is his normal smooth self, as the cop, Det. Mercer, in pursuit of a bad guy he just can’t nail for the last three years and now a vigilante that is on the loose. The conflict he portrays, as he starts to realize who the vigilante might be, is outstanding. He and Bane have started to become close, after she interviews him for her radio show. He has always wondered whether he would have the fortitude to put somebody he cares about away, if they were breaking the law.
The Brave One takes its time getting to all the vigilante action, much as was done in Death Sentence from a couple of weeks ago. This is good, as it gives you a chance to get to know a bit about the characters before it knocks one of them off. What isn’t is that once that happens, it continues to meander along until its conclusion.
The conclusion, with all the slow build up to it, does provide the best line of the movie, when she asks for her dog back, but mostly just leaves you wanting. You have to end a movie somehow, and while I don’t know what direction they should have gone, this one wasn’t all that brave.
What did you think of The Brave One?
