Powerful themes, intense emotions and a faultless performance from Jodie Foster are central to Neil Jordan's film, yet I have a fundamental problem with the story's morals, condoning violence, revenge and the protagonist taking the law into her own hands
The Brave One (2007)
Tomatometer
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Reviews Counted:178
Fresh:77
Rotten:101
Average Rating:5.6/10
Consensus: Magnetic by between Jodie Foster and Terrence Howard can't quite compensate for The Brave One's problematic and unconvincing eye-for-an-eye moral.
Runtime: 2 hrs 2 mins
Genre: Justice, Thriller, Theatrical Release, New York City, Revenge
US Box Office: $36,765,734
Synopsis: For Erica Bain (Jodie Foster), the streets of New York are both her home and her livelihood. She shares the sounds and the stories of her beloved city with her radio audience as the host of the... For Erica Bain (Jodie Foster), the streets of New York are both her home and her livelihood. She shares the sounds and the stories of her beloved city with her radio audience as the host of the show "Street Walk." At night, she goes home to the love of her life, her fiance David Kirmani (Naveen Andrews). But everything Erica knows and loves is ripped from her on one terrible night when she and David are ambushed in a random, vicious attack that leaves David dead and Erica close to it. Though Erica's broken body heals, deeper wounds remain--the devastation of losing David and, even more overwhelming, a suffocating fear that haunts her every step. The city streets she had once loved to roam, even places that had been warm and familiar, now feel strange and threatening. When the fear finally becomes too much to bear, Erica makes a fateful decision to arm herself against it. The gun in her hand becomes a tangible way to protect herself from an intangible enemy...or so she thinks. The first time she shoots someone, it is kill or be killed. The second time is also in self-defense...or did she make a choice not to take herself out of harm's way? The fear that had once paralyzed her has been replaced by something else...something that drives her to reclaim the life that was taken from her that night...something that Erica does not even recognize in herself. Stories of an anonymous vigilante grip the city, and NYPD detective Sean Mercer (Terrence Howard) becomes increasingly determined to track down the killer. As he pieces together the clues, the evidence begins to point not to a guy with a gun...but a woman with a grudge. With Mercer closing in and her own conscience trying her, Erica must decide whether her quest for some form of justice, and even vengeance, is truly the right path, or if she has become the very thing she is hunting. Two-time Academy Award winner Jodie Foster ("The Silence of the Lambs," "The Accused") and Academy Award nominee Terrence Howard ("Hustle & Flow," "Crash") star in "The Brave One." The film is directed by Academy Award winner Neil Jordan ("The Crying Game") and produced by Joel Silver ("The Matrix" trilogy, "V For Vendetta") and Susan Downey ("Kiss Kiss, Bang Bang"). The main cast also includes Naveen Andrews (TV's "Lost," "The English Patient") as David, Erica's fiance; Nicky Katt ("Grindhouse") as Mercer's partner, Detective Vitale; and Academy Award winner Mary Steenburgen ("Melvin and Howard") as Carol, Erica's boss at the radio station. Jordan directed "The Brave One" from a screenplay by Roderick Taylor & Bruce A. Taylor and Cynthia Mort, story by Roderick Taylor & Bruce A. Taylor. Herbert W. Gains, Jodie Foster, Dana Goldberg and Bruce Berman served as executive producers. The behind-the-scenes creative team included Oscar-winning director of photography Philippe Rousselot ("A River Runs Through It"), marking his fourth collaboration with Jordan, production designer Kristi Zea ("The Departed"), Jordan's longtime editor Tony Lawson ("Michael Collins," "The End of the Affair"), costume designer Catherine Thomas ("Kill Bill: Vol. 1 & 2") and Oscar-nominated composer Dario Marianelli ("Pride & Prejudice"). "The Brave One" is a Warner Bros. Pictures presentation, in association with Village Roadshow Pictures, of a Silver Pictures Production. "The Brave One" has been rated R by the MPAA for strong violence, language and some sexuality. --© Warner Bros [More]
Starring: Jodie Foster, Terrence Howard, Naveen Andrews, Nicky Katt
Starring: Jodie Foster, Terrence Howard, Naveen Andrews, Nicky Katt, Mary Steenburgen
Director: Neil Jordan
Director: Neil Jordan
Screenwriter: Roderick Taylor, Bruce A. Taylor, Cynthia Mort
Story: Roderick Taylor, Bruce A. Taylor
Producer: Joel Silver, Susan Downey
Composer: Dario Marianelli
Studio: Warner Bros.
Reviews for The Brave One
The performers, however, almost make us forget the problems with the script. Foster and Howard are a riveting pair.
Jodie Foster creates a symphony of raw emotions. A huge crowd pleaser.
[Jordan] presents the material with intelligence. Unfortunately, intelligence is not what this movie needs.
Didn't I just see this film two weeks ago with Kevin Bacon in Death Sentence? Terrance Howard is strong, though. Funny lines from Nicky Katt.
Jordan je, koriste%u0107i svoj nesumnjivi re%u017Eijski talent, snimio film koji je istovremeno i staromodan i moderan
The switch is flipped so quickly by Erica that I didn't root for her vengeance, I felt sorry for her.
Foster convinces as the petrified victim turned vengeful killer and Howard is superb as the world weary detective. Together, they just about managed to save a frequently ham-fisted script.
At its best, this high-toned vigilante picture depicts a woman almost literally transformed by violence, first as a victim, then as a participant; she could be a cousin to one of the car-wreck victims in David Cronenberg's 'Crash.'
Although it is bloody and at times brutal, it doesn't revel in the violence. There's more to the movie than initially meets the eye for an eye.
Even the masterful Jodie Foster can't manage to raise this sluggish vigilante yarn above other movies of its ilk.
We loved looking at the movie. The performances from Foster and Howard are absolutely terrific. What the hell any of it means escapes us.
Too unpleasantly stern to be exploitation, and too bloodthirsty to be drama.
Foster's achievement is maintaining her humanity and keeping us on her side at all times.
Una película mediocre, sensacionalista y manipuladora filmada por un buen director.
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