Review
The Brave One
- Director
- Neil Jordan
- Year
- 2007
- Rating
- Reviewed by
- Gon C Curiel a.k.a. Groucho
- Review date
- Thursday, October 25, 2007
The story is something we’ve seen before countless times, only not often taken so seriously. Erica Bain (Jodie Foster) is a crime victim who has lost a loved one (Naveen Andrews) and can’t find solace anywhere so she little by little takes the law on her own hands. It’s interesting that her intention is only to protect herself because now she lives in fear, but in doing so she becomes an avenging angel who’s not even looking for the people who perpetrated such atrocities in her and turned her into what she is. This has the inevitable consequence of the script becoming something of a fable, where just the right things happen to the main character in order to aid the story move forward. Erica has to stumble upon crime scenes in order to take a hand, and she does so with implausible regularity. But if we’re to stretch credibility about that, we might be all right.
The other main character is Detective Mercer (Terrence Howard), who’s been wondering how far respecting the law will take him. Not that he wants to be corrupt or anything, but sometimes just obeying the rules creates dreadful limits. So it’s no wonder that the anonymous avenger constitutes a fascination to him. In yet another uncanny coincidence, Erica also fascinates him. He’s been as shocked as everyone by the crime that she was a victim of, and the following radio shows that she emits, that being her profession, make him tick. Mercer becomes Erica’s friend and follower while he obsessively investigates the vigilante. He might as well be called Commissioner Gordon.
But I don’t want to be cynical. There’s a lot of good here. For one, even though the script by Roderick Taylor, Bruce A. Taylor and Cynthia Mort dictates every action and very little seems to come out spontaneously from characters or fate, the two stars are unbelievably good. Both are touched by the circumstances and they move the audience in turn. Foster is as strong as ever, mixing anger with fear and confusion like only she can. One doesn’t believe everything that happens to her, but allowing that it happens, she’s totally believable. Howard is also completely credible though unfortunately the script doesn’t help us believe his final resolution, which makes the climax rather off-putting.
Philippe Rousselot’s cinematography and Dario Marianelli’s score play important roles on their own. All in all, this is an interesting addition to Neil Jordan’s work, though it’s not even close to his best films.
“I want my dog back.”
Gon C Curiel en Twitter | CriticSociety en Twitter | CriticSociety en Facebook
Share on Facebook | Share on Twitter
Other reviews of The Brave One (2007): Morris
Comments
Leave a comment
