The Brave One

An intense New York-set thriller that manages to be both commercial and contemplative, kick-ass and quietly, disturbingly insinuating.

The Brave One is "Death Wish" with a guilty conscience, and while it may be a bit of a hypocrite as vigilante thrillers go, the internal contradictions of the thing make for a very interesting picture.

A confounding movie on many levels. For all its sophistication and sensitivity, it turns out to be little more than an upscale B-movie about getting even.

Regardless of the artistry involved (though the street-level anxiety of post-9/11 New York is far better evoked in Jane Campion's underrated "In the Cut," The Brave One ultimately never really strays from the same moral low road as "Death Wish."

Everything about Foster's ocular intensity is riveting, but little in this hushed vigilante drama makes sense.

Trapped in a no man's land between seriousness and pulp trash, it plays like a combination of "Death Wish" and "The Hours." If that sounds like an awkward fit, it is.

The film moves from cliché to cliché and hemorrhages blood and logic at an alarming rate.

Jodie Foster channels her inner Travis Bickle in this interesting, yet slightly uninspired take on the revenge-thriller. Though "The Brave One's" opening minutes make way for a potentially provocative statement on gender expectations, feminism, and the role of a female in a heterosexual relationship, what unfolds is a mostly by-the-numbers vengeance flick that could have just as easily been spearheaded by a man without much of the narrative changing in the process. Missed thematic opportunities aside, it's still pretty cool seeing Jodie kicking some ass and taking names. Some major props also go to Neil Jordan and Terrence Howard for using their respective talents to elevate this piece up to watchable levels.

Whoever wrote the dialog for the police in this film should never write dialog again. "This looks like a nine millimeter." Well, detective, if you look at the bottom of the shell casing you'll probably see the manufacturer's name and the caliber stamped right into the metal. "This looks like a nine millimeter." "Like the one from the other night?" Well, detectives, if you knew anything about NYC you'd know that somewhere in the five boroughs someone is popping off rounds almost every night of the week, and, by the way, the 9mm caliber bullet tops the sales charts nationwide, so if somebody's shooting there's a reasonable chance they are shooting 9mm, so the one from the "other night" is which night, when and where? Jodie Foster, as usual, gives an excellent performance. But this film is just absurd.

Jodie Foster gives another, incredibly brave performance in the title role. However, the Brave One suffers from predictability and an awkward premise involving a radio talk show host.

Yes the film is rather generic and predictable but Jodi Foster makes this film and her performance alone makes this film worth seeing. Not that bad if you ask me.

Alors, c'est la femme de Charles Bronson qui décide de faire le ménage à New York, "la ville la plus sûre au monde" (lol et sic) parce que c'est vrai qu'il y a toujours du ménage à faire et de la justice à rendre. Et comme le Juge Dredd n'est pas là, il faut bien que quelqu'un s'en occupe... Jodi Foster est impliquée et se donne du mal mais c'est tellement mal écrit, mal développé, si peu vraisemblable qu'on y croit pas pas plus d'une minute... Il faut dire qu'elle est entourée d'acteurs à la masse qui ont encore plus de mal à se dépêtrer d'un scénario qui nous prend pour des jambons ; le flic notamment est aussi mauvais que le personnage bidon qu'il est censé incarner, ce qui n'arrange rien. Le film souffre en outre de longueurs récurrentes et passe les trois quarts du temps complètement à côté de son sujet... tout cela est très superficiel derrière une volonté affichée de creuser la psychologie de notre justicière dans la ville... cette dernière reste le cul entre deux chaises à essayer de singer un certain Raskolnikov... en vain. Enfin, la fin atteint un sommet dans le cliché et termine le film dans le ridicule le plus complet. N'en jetez plus, la coupe est pleine.