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Summary:
Public radio talk show host Erica Bain (Jodie Foster) is in
love..with both fiancé David (Naveen Andrews) and the city
of New York. But in a mere minute of brutal of violence,
that love is destroyed when thugs in Central Park set upon
the couple, killing David and severely mauling Erica. Her
life is turned inside out when she assumes the role of a
vengeance-seeking vigilante.
Steve says:
Films like THE BRAVE ONE are difficult to watch. On the one
hand, I’m one of those bleeding hearts who believes that all
life is sacred and that the taking of one of those lives
still does not justify the killing of another. I’ve been
firm in that belief for most of my life. But when confronted
with the kind of revenge fantasies depicted in this movie,
as well as the current Kevin Bacon effort, DEATH SENTENCE
and the progenitor of both, DEATH WISH, I find myself
silently cheering the hero as he (or in this case she) blows
away one scumbag after another. I know it’s not civilized
and I know it violates my own personal creed. But it also
appeals to something that lurks beneath the surface of all
of us that wishes that good order and discipline could be
put on hold for a while in order for the bad guys to get
what we secretly believe they deserve.
Fortunately, THE BRAVE ONE, unlike DEATH WISH, acknowledges
that the taking of a human life, regardless of whose, is not
something that is easily undertaken or done without any
consideration of right or wrong. In the very capable hands
of the sublime Jodie Foster, Erica goes through hell in
between each outburst of vengeance.
I once had a conversation with writer Brian Garfield, who
penned the novel upon which the first DEATH WISH movie was
based. He was outraged over the casting of Charles Bronson
as the architect Paul Kersey. Garfield’s Kersey was a gentle
soul, turned sour and vengeful by the violence visited upon
him and his family. The whole point of his book, he said,
was to see that turn made by an Everyman (Jack Lemmon had
been his first choice for casting) rather than by someone
like Bronson, who had played killing machines countless
times before. (Garfield finally got his wish 33 years later
when he retooled the DEATH WISH story into what became the
Bacon film).
Producer Joel Silver wisely ensured that the audience would
be in his protagonist’s corner by casting Jodie Foster,
whose cache with American movie-going audiences goes back
for decades. We love her; we trust her and we’ll support
just about anything she does. Her performance, along with
that of co-star Terrence Howard as the cop who befriends her
before he knows he’s pursuing her and the impeccable
direction of Neil Jordan (THE CRYING GAME) all come together
to make this a better movie than it deserves to be. Howard,
who showed up on moviegoers’ radar indelibly in HUSTLE AND
FLOW, has carved himself a well-deserved niche in the
exclusive club of A-list quality actors in film.
Veteran father/son TV writers, Roderick and Bruce A. Taylor,
with a rewrite from Cynthia Mort, have crafted a taut script that holds our interest. But in
titling it THE BRAVE ONE, they are already telling us before
we enter the theater how we should feel about Foster’s
character. Indeed, it doesn’t necessarily call for bravery
to pack some heat and start blowing away bad guys. What it
does require is the ability to put ones’ own scruples on a
back burner, ignore questions of right and wrong and act
mindlessly.
If you’re like me, you’ll probably enjoy THE BRAVE ONE, then
leave the theater with some measure of self-loathing for
doing so.
 
September 16, 2007
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