Tweekums
Radio presenter Erica Bain has a pretty good life but that is shattered when she and David, her fiancé, encounter three thugs as they walk their dog in Central Park on night. The confrontation leaves David dead and Erica seriously injured. She remains in a coma for three months and when she wakes she isn't the same person; for the first time she is afraid. She buys a pistol to protect herself and soon finds herself using it when she is in a convenience store and the cashier is shot by her estranged husband. Erica shots him and is surprised to find that her hands are no longer shaking. Later she shots a pair of youths who threaten her on the subway and is then looking for threatening situations. It isn't long before the police believe that they have a vigilante operating in the city; they however assume they are looking for a man. Erica befriends Detective Sean Mercer, who believes her interest in the case is professional, and learns of a man he has been pursuing for years and goes after him; this time she doesn't use a gun so the killing isn't obviously linked to the vigilante. Eventually she learns the identity of one of the men who killed her fiancé and sets about looking for them… by now Mercer is suspicious that she is involved but will he get to her in time to stop her… or will he even try to stop her?This is a solid revenge thriller which has a slight twist over the usual stories about vigilantes in that the protagonist is a woman. The early scenes showing her ordinary life do a good job of introducing her and makes the events that change her more shocking. It also means we can see how she has changed. Her path from scared victim to armed vigilante isn't too rushed and it is understandable that the police don't suspect her sooner. Jodie Foster does a fine job as Erica; she gives a nicely conflicted performance as a character who appears to want to be stopped. She is supported by Terrence Howard who does a solid job as Detective Mercer. The story is gripping and the end isn't too obvious… but nor is it too surprising. Some may find the ending a little distasteful as it could be taken as implying her actions were morally acceptable. Overall I'd certainly recommend it to fans of the genre, it won't be for everybody though.
addictedtofilm
I just watched the movie on a Serbian cable channel, blissfully ignorant about it, and after the opening sequence in which Jodie Foster¨s character suffered that tragedy, I rushed to my computer to check the plot; I expected some boring, spiritual post-postmodern stuff like a mixture of "Ghost" movie and finding peace in meeting "a good person" who is soul twin of lost beloved one, and so on, but no - I discovered it is a "Death Wish" remake, updated in terms of political and gender correctness (and also in terms of mobile technology).And I loved it, specially compared to move "Larry Crowne" who I saw couple of days earlier on the same channel, and I discovered I had no patience anymore for such romance lemonades, and I was happy to continue watching "The Brave One".It's been quite a while since I wrote my last review, 15 years or so (!; in the mean time Mr. Ebert passed away...), and this probably doesn't look like a review at all, rather more like a blog of a wannabe vigilante.However, anyways, I got thrilled by the movie. Both films - I mean both "Larry Crowne" and "The Brave One" are equally improbable and spectator must suspend indeed disbelief for both, but "The Brave One" feels so good, it so good to see thugs killed, shot, smashed, destroyed.The plot is more elaborate and ethically better explained than in "Death Wish 1 and 2", it began as I said as predictable story of traumatized woman who needs a shrink who would tell her at the end of the film "It's not your fault", because the good shrinks always tells those words and the patient always get cured after that. I even thought it was a true story, as for example about that woman who recognized black cop as a culprit and he got sentenced to 20 years or to life, and I thought it was going to be another heavy film, only less convincing than an average episode for CBS Reality channel.But no, "The Brave One" was more plausible than kitchen reality programme with Anthony Burdain "The Taste" with its bland, fake quarrels.I loved silent agreement between Jodie Foster and Terence Howard. His character - homicide detective with a soul - is in fact most unbelievable character, but it is like libretto in opera: sounds silly, but singers (that is actors) make it credible. It is hard to imagine such police officer in real life, but Howard did it.Last third of the movie is little bit too slow in this complicated fermentation of their relationship, but in that respect the movie is building some more upon "Death Wish", creating some biblical dilemmas and abandoning concept of pure urban western story line.The film has but one comical relief but it is a good one; when young pot smoker is giving description for photo robot, and when he is describing Jodie's character and when he is talking about arrrs, breasts etc, and female police officer at the computer is just shaking her head on it. I can easily imagine audience giggling in the cinemas and long after the film is finished, when people for example stopped over in a pub for a drink.Tho most improbable thing in the film is that point when Jodie's character lost her Ipod in the subway (after very second vigilante shooting) they did not manage to discover anything. I mean, in this time when even hotmail.com is helplessly slowed down so as NSA can read each mail first and when satellites can trace your phones via FB accounts, com'on, that is ludicrous, but I still love that film.This is "Death Wish" free of sexism and open to women's point of view.What a great movie. I assume this film amongst other movies and books is announcing this populist wave which was crowned by Mr. Trump's victory. Those waves alternates every 11-14 years. For example W. Wellman's western "The Ox-Bow Incident" with Henry Fonda from 1943 is typical leftist, liberal movie against lynch, and 14 years later Fonda repeated same liberal attitude in Mr. Lummet's "12 Angry Men". In the mean time we saw right-wing paranoid movies in same time circles.What about "The Brave One", one might ask, is it leftists' movie or right-wing? It is right-wing, in disguise of lonesome woman's revenge. But it's just a theory, perhaps for some film columnist.This movie is soothing balsam for scared people's wounded hearts. One cannot believe any more that Tom Hanks character "Larry Crowne" can seduce Julia Roberts bitchhhy character (Hanks as a producer and actor even managed to destroy "Charlie Wilson's War" which had such a potential!), nor in ghosts who can time travel, neither in guarding angels and White Light at the end of a tunnel. But one WANTS to believe that thugs get punished in a foreseeable future.If it is not possible, it should have been possible.
Mr-Fusion
There's nothing like a gunshot jump scare during a quiet scene to really turn you off a movie. That's the sort of cheap histrionics at the heart of "The Brave One". Really, this is some pseudo-intellectual version of "Death Wish", with Jodie Foster taking to the streets of New York City with a gun after suffering a vicious attack in the park. But that movie worked as well as it did because we wanted to see Charles Bronson exact some street justice. He was almost born to play that part, and the movie was sold on his persona. But here, it's Foster playing vigilante because she's trying to fill the void left by the attackers. Or something. No wait, it's because the police are of no help. Or because she can't stop herself. And naturally, the city ignites the vigilantism debate. And that unbelievably convenient ending? Seriously.This is worth anyone's time just for Foster's performance, but the last thing I need is a revenge flick playing on my emotions at every turn.4/10
OllieSuave-007
This is a movie where criminals and street thugs get more than they bargained for when radio hostess Erica Bain (Jodie Foster) buys a gun and turns into a vigilante after her fiancé was brutally attacked in the New York streets.Foster gave a credible performance as Bain, mixing in drama and her hunger for revenge, but generating sympathy from the audience after the very unfortunate incident her character experiences in the film. This makes you root for her throughout the movie as she downs scumbag criminals left and right - before law enforcement could intervene.Caught in the fray is Detective Mercer (Terrence Howard), where he has to choose between arresting Bain for her activities or give in to her sympathetic plight. He gives the movie an enticing subplot and generates enough intrigue for the audience, letting them wonder which way he will choose.The script and plot are well-paced, with a dark but riveting atmosphere that is sure to keep the audience engaged. There are much disturbing scenes as well, and is certainly not a movie for everyone (I myself cringed a few times). But, it's still a riveting film nonetheless, with a satisfying "good guy vs. bad guy" element.Grade B
