Summary: When she's severely beaten in a brutal mugging that results in the
death of her fiance, radio talks show host Erica Bain buys a gun to protect
herself. Soon she finds herself using the gun in one dangerous situation after
another. As the body count rises, the question becomes, is Erica still a
victim--or a victimizer?
My Short Take: It took me three days to even attempt writing a review of this
movie. I guess that's a good thing, because the more I think about it, the more
the subtle messages in the film make themselves known. If you want a
quick-and-dirty movie where the "hero" blows away the deserving bad guys, skip
this flick and rent "Death Wish", or go see Kevin Bacon in "Death Sentence".
This film isn't that clearcut. This is about a woman who becomes a tortured
soul: almost like a drug addict who's drawn to behaviour she finds
repugnant--but keeps going back. This is not a celebration of the vigilante,
and not exactly a condemnation either. It's a study in how our hurt and pain
can turn us into the very things we hate, but the hurt and pain still don't go
away. Rather bleak feeling, the movie is made better by Foster's tight
performance, and Terrence Howard's humanity as a police detective. Most of the
killing scenes stretch credibility, but it's the motive, not the method, that's
im
portant here. Not a feel-good flick by any means, it's "good" only if you want
to really *think* about *why* people resort to violence, and the cost on their
souls when they do. If you don't want to know--or don't care--and just want
action, skip this one and go watch Charles Bronson. Me, I just can't shake that
sad, dangerous thing Foster becomes...
My Full Take: The revenge flick has long been a staple of American cinema.
With classics like Death Wish and Foxy Brown, the
wronged-citizen-turned-vigilante has functioned as a (anti) hero for the
masses. These avenging angels show no doubt or hesitation as they embark on
what is to them a just cause. The audience is expected to empathize with these
vigilantes, to see their actions as not necessarily right, but
understandable.
The Brave One gives us a different type of character, one who hates what
shes become, who fights her impulses, but cant seem to stop. This is a study
of a reluctant vigilante.
Radio talk show host Erica Bain (Jodie Foster) is in love with New York. She
spends her days walking the streets of the city, recording the sounds of
life--traffic, children playing, trains rumbling byand lovingly speaks of them
on her show.
All that is shattered the night she and her fiancé David (Naveen Andrews) are
brutally attacked by thieves in the park. The thugs literally beat David to a
pulp, with Erica faring little better. Coming out of a coma weeks later, Erica
finds her world forever changed. David is dead. Worse, she doesnt even get a
chance to say goodbye because hes already been buried, because, as his mother
tearfully says We didnt know if youd ever wake up.
As she tries to regain her life without David, Erica discovers shes lost
something more: her love and trust for her city. Where once the sights and
sounds of the city gave her comfort, they now bring fear: a mans footsteps
behind her in broad daylight signal a would-be attacker
a screeching car could
be a kidnapper about to snatch her
young men playing laugh with imagined
menace. Erica is reduced to a veritable prisoner, afraid to leave her own
apartment.
In desperation and fear, Erica buys a gun for protection. Armed with new
resolve, she begins prowling the streets of the city, in time using the gun for
more than simple protection
What is unique about Fosters Bain is that she doesnt set out to seek revenge
with a gun. She doesnt look for Davids killers on her own, doesnt walk the
streets looking to kill anyone. No, she stumbles into situations that force her
to protect herself with deadly force. Shes a victim of circumstance.
Or is she? Soon the question becomes, is she protecting herself from danger,
or seeking it? She tells herself that shes taking back control. But then, why
walk alone at night? Why get involved in situations instead of calling the
police? It becomes clear that Erica is doing more than fighting her fear: shes
actively pushing it back onto the city that has hurt her. Not a killer,
perhaps, she continues to put herself into situations where violence is a
foregone conclusion. Later, when she appears to cross a line, weand
Ericareally question her motives. As Erica herself says Ive become a
stranger to myself.
Unlike typical vigilantes, Bain isnt certain of a holy cause, isnt as cold
and emotionless as shed like to be. Shes wracked with guilt, remorse and
doubt. Even as she falls deeper into this world, she cries at what shes
become. That stranger may be part of her, but she doesnt have to like it.
The movie is really a story of two people, Bain, and Detective Mercer (Terrence
Howard). Mercer has his own issues. By all appearances a dedicated cop, hes
haunted by his failure to put away a rich, spouse-abusing criminal despite
years of trying. That hes divorced and obviously still cares for his ex-wife
only adds to Mercers own sense of frustration and loneliness. He and Bain
strike up a kind of friendship borne out of shared pain, each wanting something
they cant have, each frustrated by a world where the good die and the bad
thrive, each wounded and lonely. As Mercer comes to suspect Bain, one wonders
if that friendship makes him perhaps a step too slow in figuring out who she
really is.
Despite her character stumbling into a couple of situations that strain
credulity (or common sense) Jodie Foster does a masterful job showing Erica's
descent into her darker side. Early on shes relaxed and loose, but after the
attack, fearful and tightly wound, every step a battle of will, arms clenched
at her sides, eyes darting about like a trapped animal. She who was so smooth
and confident on the radio now talks in clipped, whispered sentences, afraid to
announce her presence to a menacing world. Once armed with the courage of a
gun, she walks with purposestill clenched, still fearful, but angry too. Her
moves are less ones of confidence and more ones of coiled desperation, like the
trapped animal that will fight back any moment. Its as if shes daring the
city to hurt her. And when she does kill, the shock and self-loathing are
plain on he r faceevery single time. Truly this is a conflicted soul, and if
the exact situations used to show that aren't quite perfectly done,
Foster and director Jordan are skillful enough so that the method doesn't
bother you, so long as the meaning gets across.
One major quibble I have is the ending, where Bains search for Davids killers
veers into more standard territory. The actions taken and choices made fly in
the face of the more complex message I thought was being conveyed earlier. It
seems calculated more to please crowds than to make them think. Most disturbing
was that, as Bain meted out her final justice the audience in my theatre
cheeredseveral times. I couldnt help but think that they missed the point.
But maybe in this post-9/11 world Americans just want to see someoneanyonepay.
If so, thats the saddest statement of all, because The Brave One tries to
show the heavy toil revenge takes--on the person taking it as well as those
attacked. Bain is wracked with guilt even as shes compelled to kill. That the
killer didnt set out on that path shouldnt really matterits still a
disturbing sight. This is a study of a tortured person, not a righteous one.
If only theyd changed that ending
.
My Grade: B-
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