Jodie Foster stars as Erica Bain, the host of a local radio
show in New York City. She’s engaged to David (Naveen Andrews, best known from LOST), a doctor in the ER at a prestigious hospital. In other words, Erica is living the sort of fairy tale existence in New York City that can only be possible if you’re in a Woody Allen film. But unlike a Woody Allen film, Erica’s idealistic life is shattered by violence of the worst kind: she and David are assaulted by thugs while walking their dog in Central Park. After three weeks in a coma, Erica emerges to discover that David is dead and his funeral already done.
Going through the usual song and dance with the police, who are apathetic to her plight, Erica becomes embittered and paranoid to the point where she fears to walk the streets of the city she once loved. Getting an illegal gun for protection, Erica begins to use it more aggressively in a quest for personal justice once she grows weary of dealing with the system. The Brave One is basically a 21st century updating of Death Wish. Instead of Charles Bronson gunning down psychos and killers, we have Jodie Foster becoming an armed avenging angel.
Directed by Neal Jordan, The Brave One is handled with a fair level of intelligence, by having Foster’s character initially begin her quest of fighting crime quite by accident. Once again, she’s in the wrong place at the wrong time--yet once she realizes that she has a taste for it, Erica continues seeking out wrong-doers to mete out her own brand of justice. Jodie Foster is very good here, as is Terrence Howard, who plays the detective assigned to track her down. The main problem is that the film loses its pacing in spots, and it’s pretty predictable--right down to having the cop falling for his prime suspect. The special features on the DVD are pretty sparse, and there’s no commentary. Die-hard Jodie Foster fans may enjoy this, but if you’re looking for this sort of thing, stick with Bronson in Death Wish.
--SF
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