The Brave One (DVD, 2008, Widescreen)

For the 2nd Time within 2 Weeks comes a major violent movie; in which a "Crime Victim turns Hunter" to 'Exact Revenge'.
Kevin Bacon's 'Death Sentence' (SEE MY REVIEW), was the first one out of the gate; and 'The Brave One' is 'by no means' faultering 2nd out-of-the-gate. Addressing middle-class fears of Urban Crime and Violence; 'The Brave One' is a revenge-thirsty 'Death Wish' that would make even Charles Bronson proud.
'The Brave One'; with an A-List Director in Neil Jordan and Top-Flight Talent in stars Jodie Foster and Terrence Howard is more a combined genius of paranoia, revenge and brutality that succeeds in having it "both ways".
Seeking Vengeance — and not necessarily against solely the people who have actually wronged her — Radio Talk Jock Erica (Foster) feel guilty; but does not stop from making like Charles Bronson and continuing her "One-Woman Vigilante Campaign".
Like 'Death Sentence', 'The Brave One' holds a plot that engages when good people make the mistake of crossing into a land where rules of civilized behavior do not apply. Bacon stopped at a gas station in a bad neighborhood; Erica's Doctor Fiancé David ('Lost's' Naveen Andrews) distractedly throws a ball into a park's lonely tunnel for his dog. When he and Erica step inside to discover what has become of the animal, a group of louts step from the shadows savagely beating and robbing the couple.
She (Foster) awakens from a Coma days later to a radically changed world. The woman who hosts the insipid Talk Show that extols the 'Joys of New York City' now fears the place. She does not want to leave her apartment....and then she buys a gun.
The weapon is for protection; but then forced to - she uses it one night in a case of self-defense, (her first step in transforming into an Urban Hunter). Soon, the tabloids are full of the exploits of this Local Hero.
A Detective, Mercer (Howard), takes charge of the Investigation, vowing to catch someone he regards as no better than the Murdered Criminals. Erica is wracked by guilt, but has the prescence of mind to cover the case on her show and to befriend Mercer.
The vigilante disgusts him; he is a good Cop who believes in the Justice System, even as he privately admits to Erica its failure when it comes to a case that has long obsessed him.
'The Brave One' is viscerally-effective. Foster's histrionics quickly grows. Erica's guilt festers into Vengeance; and becomes less disingenuous, as she begins to continually troll for strangers to dispatch under the merky sides of dark. But can this ultimately be drawn to any peaceful end?
Straight-Up Revenge has created a Warrior; one who has had enough of being a victim; enough of watching others become victims; and has chosen to extol her Virtue and Judgement upon the wicked.
Bravo !! Bravo !!
SEE THIS !!!!

...than Kevin Bacon's 'Death Sentence'; however, we also see Jodie Foster unbelievably become thrown into some precarious deadly situations of her own as well in this film.

Synopsis:

In the vein of Charles Bronson's successful 'Death Wish' series, in this film, Jodie Foster portrays Erica Bain, a radio program personality who is happily engaged to a doctor and who is finalizing plans for her wedding day. That evening, she and her fiancé decide to take their dog for a walk through New York City's Central Park. After the three enter a tunnel, they are brutally attacked and robbed by a group of street thugs. Erica just barely survives, but her fiancé was brutally beaten to death and their dog was taken from them by the street thugs. Three weeks later after waking-up from a semi-comatose state in the hospital, Erica learns that her fiancé had been murdered. Filled with rage, she sets-off to take matters into her own hands...with the police detectives just one step behind her. She buys a 'black market' 9mm pistol and a box of ammo and goes about her way. Unable to now sleep at night, she finds herself roaming the streets of New York City, and unrealistically, she finds herself in several precarious situations where she must use her 9mm to dispose of various attackers. She eventually succeeds in locating the original perpetrators who had so dramatically changed her life a few months earlier, and with the help of the lead detective (played by Terrence Howard) with whom she had developed a close bond to during the film, she eliminates the last of the bad guys with a bullet to his head; thus, finally ending her hunt for vengeance.

As usual, Jodie Foster does a great job acting here, plus I was also satisfied with the film's ending, as it was done quite well; however, it does leave room for a possible sequel or two... as the others which were done in the same vein have alluded to as well?

If a producer wanted to remake “Death Wish” (the ultimate vigilante movie) in today’s terms, he could go one of two ways: Either overexploit the violence, or redo the movie with another type of lead character: perhaps one that is softer, more believable in the title role. Jodi Foster has both characteristics. A chameleon of sorts, she is equally adept at playing both sides of the coin. In “The Brave One” (inappropriately named, by the way), Foster tries to foster more than just a revenge motive for removing the bad guys. Instead, she gets caught up chasing her own stoic shadow from vengeful murder to murder.

From a purely watch able standpoint, the movie moves along with an evenness and steady pace. It is punctuated by some hinky overdub dialog by Foster as she underlines and bolds certain points to the audience. The first viewing of this movie may or may not evoke the feelings the director tried to convey, but a repeat reviewing will more than likely be seen as slightly annoying on several aspects. Foster’s character maintains a pronounced sadness all throughout the performance, easily enough actable, but doesn’t carry the depth to fully motivate the viewer into a real sense of empathy. Far too many times, Foster is put into scenes where tragedy forces her hand, but of course, in her hand is a gun.

Terrence Howard is stupendous, however, and should command top dollar fees for his next acting experiences based on what he conveyed in the “Brave One.” The interplay of the two is understated, and is full of eyebrow raising and lowering. Both souls are connected by the necessity to put to rest the evil that poisons each persons home town. One defends the city, the other defends her sanity. The end result is a movie that won’t leave you feeling good, but will probably define for watchers what many crime victims feel they could do, at least initially after a brutal attack.

The resolution for fighting extreme evil is often to combat it with an equal bluntness, and disregard for rules.

Jeff Feezle of Macafeez

Charles Bronson? Move Over! Wow, what's the body count on this one? Nine, (9 for vengeance) I think. Well, if you <like>, live in a plastic bubble in New York City (or anywhere else for that matter), hoping that nothing bad would ever happen to you, then I truly get this movie so that you can learn how to react after a traumatic event. There is something terribly wrong with the character Erica Bain (Jodie Foster) wondering "Why don't they stop me?" from my killing spree.

But, why turn bitter over an incident and kill others yourself unless you wanted to turn into a paranoid schizophrenic psycho vigilante stalker killer female? The answer is, so we can all relive the terror ourselves in the comfort of our own homes.

For some odd reason, a piece of hilarious trivia has circulated its way into the mainstream which goes like this: Release prints were delivered to theaters with the fake title "Sweet Revenge". This film just seemed for me to be this drawn out stereotype filled bore-fest with "Middle Aged Blonde Hair, Blue Eyed Woman fights back against the Big Bad Male minorities in NEW YORK and gets her kicks!" Sorry that I feel that way, but I didn't even really think this could really be a "chick" thing either. I think most females don't even relate to this sort of violence anyway.

I really like Jodie Foster in a lot of different films, but this one was better left undone by her, or anyone else for that matter.

I'm going to give this 3/5 for the acting of Jodie Foster and Terrence Howard.

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The story begins with Jodi's character going through a horrible trauma.

One here has said Jodi was 'DYKEY' in this movie. I feel that immature statements, hatred, and judgment of the character's sexual identity is the ultimate in stupidity!

The character had to be tough to survive the torment she was now forced to live with. Her whole world changed because of one event leading our star down a path that will only change her forever.

I loved this movie because I believe that the characters vigilante system of justice was all she really had. She new that she was becoming a different person.

But when you have this much hurt and anger in you? Perspective on life is shattered for her because of so many facets of self loathing and hatred for the killers. Not to mention, love lost so quickly and without reason.

I didn't realize how much I was affected by Jodi's incredible range of projection until the end of the movie when she is allowed the only justice that mattered to her. She wanted closure and hopefully the chance to find herself again.

She wanted the chance to be pulled up from hatred and sadness to become more human again. But with the shot of a gun she gets what she feels she needs. As she walks away you feel that she is changed forever and that her fate is sealed.

She is destined to live her life helping others like herself. The people that feel so beaten down from tragedy that they don't have the strength to ask for help.

I had been so caught up with the performance that I wept when the character got her justice. I was so linked with Jodi and her compelling performance that I was so shaken. Suddenly so human.

This movie is a must see movie.

Christine