Review: The Brave One

Jodie Foster plays a radio show host who is walking with her fiancé (Naveen Andrews) late one night when some thugs come along, injure Foster, and kill Andrews. Physically recovered, but troubled, Foster buys a gun, and soon pops her cherry with it. And then she uses it again. And again. And so on. Hi, my name’s Jodie, and I’m a Sociopath...I mean, vigilante. Right. Totally different. Terrence Howard and Nicky Katt play cops investigating the killings, with the former (whom I like to refer to as Det. Dumbarse) striking up a tentative relationship with Foster, after she interviews him on her show, unawares of the demons she is carrying. Did I mention he’s divorced? Mary Steenburgen plays Foster’s concerned boss, in an underwritten part.

 

Dull, unoriginal 2007 Neil Jordan (“The Crying Game”, “Mona Lisa”) vigilante film spends about two hours attempting two things; 1) It tries to get you to root for the main character, and ultimately the idea of vigilantism, and 2) It wants you to think it’s more important, intelligent and creative than it really is. I’m not a vigilante guy, but when it is done for the sole purpose of cheap, unapologetic dumb fun like a “Coffy”, I can pretty much fully embrace it. I like popcorn vigilante flicks, at least some of them. What I don’t generally like is the “Death Wish”-style of vigilante films, which sometimes don’t even result in the vigilantes actually apprehending the people who wronged them in the first place, simply dispensing justice on random thugs. The original “Death Wish” (unlike its cheapjack sequels) wanted the audience to take it seriously, ponder its ideas and the character’s situation (though it wasn’t exactly intellectual, just manipulative), and ultimately embrace them. It worked for a lot of people, and the film was a big hit in 1974. Now comes this modern “Death Wish”, and sadly in terms of quality, this ain’t even on the level of “Death Wish”. Although not terribly appealing to me, that film had a gritty, urban realism and Charles Bronson with a big fuckin’ gun, making it at least somewhat watchable, if morally questionable. “The Brave One”, sticks its nose up at “Death Wish”, thinking it’s above even that film, and doesn’t even try for the sappy ‘Family Guy loses everything to criminals, Gets bloody revenge’ thing “Death Wish” did. Instead it tries to be an intellectual, arthouse vigilante film! The result is a snooty, pretentious, utterly morally repugnant film that tries too hard to justify its embrace of vigilantism by showing us the main character’s inner turmoil with what she has become, before an ending that abhorrently wipes away any of the potential moral ambiguity towards the issue of vigilantism. Some have been fooled into thinking the ending stinks because it is counter-active to the rest of the film’s views on vigilantism. I think the rest of the film is there to set us up for the ending. By casting the usually intelligent, trustworthy Foster (not known for embracing right-wing, ‘gun nut’ beliefs), by it being a film from a normally intelligent, somewhat arthouse director, and by spending time on the main character’s inner turmoil rather than cheaper elements of the story, the film was just setting the audience up to embrace its right-wing thoughts about vigilantism. Geez, at least “Death Wish” was pretty honest in its emotional manipulation, and at least “Coffy” pretty much got straight to the damn point, and didn’t bother to intellectualise things (for the most part). I could not accept this anymore than I could believe I was seeing it from Foster and Jordan. And ooh, Jodie’s banging a black man! How very modern, liberal and thoughtful of her! My arse! And ooh, the cop’s black too! Daddy Mack Neil Jordan’s down with the peeps, ‘yo!

 

I was appalled, but mostly I was just kinda bored by it. It doesn’t even do what it does in an interesting or original way. Even when coming from a supposedly intelligent, non-mainstream POV, the result is still the same. And had they come from the notion of just providing entertainment, I would’ve been able to enjoy it most likely. But because Jordan and Foster thought they were better than me, and because they were seriously pushing an agenda that I don’t subscribe to in the real world, I could not get behind this film. The acting’s not even all that great, with Foster not a suitable fit, Howard forced to act like a tool, and Katt’s comic relief welcome but jarring.

 

Don’t be fooled people, there’s nothing new or profound here, and sadly, nothing very entertaining, either. This film is not better than you, it’s not even better than “Death Wish”. The screenplay is by Roderick Taylor, Bruce A. Taylor (a father-son team), and Cynthia Mort, who should all be stripped of their SAG cards for the abysmal ending alone. As for that disgusting title...

 

Rating: C