The Brave One (2007)

Featured Audience Ratings

• moon r

  
  Formuliac revenge piece ala Charles Bronson's Death Wish series of the 70's with Jodie Foster in the lead but little more to recommend it. Terrance Howard and the rest of the supporting cast cannot believe that a woman would turn vigilante ... which is tougher acting than… More
  Formuliac revenge piece ala Charles Bronson's Death Wish series of the 70's with Jodie Foster in the lead but little more to recommend it. Terrance Howard and the rest of the supporting cast cannot believe that a woman would turn vigilante ... which is tougher acting than it sounds.

• Jeff "

  
  The Brave One is an average action film with a decent cast of actors. I thought that the film was pretty entertaining despite the fact that the ideas in the plot have been done countless times before in other films. The film is for me, anyways, mindless entertainment. The film is good… More
  The Brave One is an average action film with a decent cast of actors. I thought that the film was pretty entertaining despite the fact that the ideas in the plot have been done countless times before in other films. The film is for me, anyways, mindless entertainment. The film is good enough for a mindless viewing experience, but it's not the type of film that you'd want to rewatch again and again. I thought for the most part, Jodie Foster gave a good performance here. The film is pretty good overall, and though it isn't a great film, the film manages to entertaining enough for you to enjoy a good two hours. This is not Jodie Foster's best film, but for what it is, it still is pretty entertaining. The story is engaging, thrilling and better than what most people would think. I enjoyed this film, and thought it was really good albeit the dreadful reviews it has received. Of course it's no masterpiece, but it still is very entertaining and thrilling with enough action to deliver a mindless, fun two hours. The Brave One is simply good, flawed entertainment. There are worse films out there. Overall I liked this film, and it had some good action bits and was a fun, mindless entertaining film. However it leaves a lot to be desired, despite this, this is a film still worth watching. A good film that will appeal to anyone looking for a decent action film. Worth watching at least once.

• Matt G

  
  Completely underrated. Great acting from Jodie Foster and features some great action and a good story.

• Lady D

  
  An emtionally charged, vigilante killer with a feminine touch, a good role for Jodie Foster, but yet another solid performance for the ever underrated Terrance Howard. Fairly belieable, slowly paced, almost comes across as a dark superhero film at times because of the narration.

• Gregory D

  
  A somber, slow-paced, ominous-scored film that needs to be viewed without distraction. The simple premise is less significant when confronted with the subtle psychology of many of the sequences.

• Anthony L

  
  The Brave one has 2 very big problems. 1) Jodie Foster 2) The ridiculous storyline, especially the ending. To Neil Jordan's credit, it does look good but that's as far as it goes, he's a great director and is better than this. 1st rule of Neil Jordan films, only bother… More
  The Brave one has 2 very big problems. 1) Jodie Foster 2) The ridiculous storyline, especially the ending. To Neil Jordan's credit, it does look good but that's as far as it goes, he's a great director and is better than this. 1st rule of Neil Jordan films, only bother with the ones starring Stephen Rea!

• Dean !

  
  I wasn't expecting much from this. I hadn't heard an awful lot about it considering it was made a few years ago. I have to say I was pleasantly surprised. It's a very emotional revenge, vigilante type film. Great lead actors, and a touching, thought provoking story.… More
  I wasn't expecting much from this. I hadn't heard an awful lot about it considering it was made a few years ago. I have to say I was pleasantly surprised. It's a very emotional revenge, vigilante type film. Great lead actors, and a touching, thought provoking story. Well worth seeing if you haven't already!

• EightThirty .

  
  03/05/2010 (DVD) Its not a hit but it is surprisingly good. Its not my usual but I gave it a chance and was quite entertained. The acting is very good and although the message is not a positive one, it is definitely a strong one and one that people secretly like. To me, this is… More
  03/05/2010 (DVD) Its not a hit but it is surprisingly good. Its not my usual but I gave it a chance and was quite entertained. The acting is very good and although the message is not a positive one, it is definitely a strong one and one that people secretly like. To me, this is like 'KILL BILL" with out the fiction.

• Veronique K

  
  "the brave one" is jodie foster's latest blockbuster breakthru by some art-house director neil jordan with the helpful upstaging thru charismatic terrence howard. so would "the brave one" be a smash hit? obviously, it sells well but would its crucial viewpoint… More
  "the brave one" is jodie foster's latest blockbuster breakthru by some art-house director neil jordan with the helpful upstaging thru charismatic terrence howard. so would "the brave one" be a smash hit? obviously, it sells well but would its crucial viewpoint be taken without being misled and over-generalized as another "chic with vengence" rehash, especially from male audience? another sort of chic/woman's flicks about strong woman risen up against all the odds just like 40s "mildred pierce"? it's a story about a woman and her husband-to-be being almost beaten to death in the central park. she survives but her loved one passes. so triggered by her anger over the injustice and grievance as well as approaching fright, she purchases a gun for the sense of safety. then some other perilous events drive her into using her lethal pistol into immediate killings which she's obtained great kicks from until she actively sets her path into disposing of the genuine evil men that includes her fiancee' murderers. therefore, she's become an involuntary vigilante partially forced by circumstances. "the brave one" is actually a film noir to its essence but inevitably it over-lingers over the sentimentalities of a woman's traumatic pysche after the catastrophe such as the self-inflicted confession over the radio-broadcastings, and those attributes are easily categorized as "feminist refugee" like 90s "thelma and louis". there're four basic elements of film noirs that this flick's contour could ascribe: 1. the dark side of humanity over sex or violence. 2. anarchistic distrust over the law. 3. a vigilante to perform the justice on his own, usually private dick like philip marlowe. 4. the seedy backset of a metropolitan's shadowy retreat like raymond chandler and james m cain's frequent spots of los angels, grendale, pasadena in southern california or danshiel hammet's san fransisco. and "the brave one" is about human's potential appetite of violence being provoked by grand tragedy, and the woman protagonist's distrust over the law is so severe that she has to buy a gun to feel safe, then bang bang bang! she would do justice on her own, a vigilante! and it's about the dark corners of new york as well as her obsession over this super-metropolitan that's well-channeled by her radio-broadcastings...unfortunately these traits have been neglected by the viewers, does it occur to you that audience cannot deem it as film noir just becuz the vigilante protagonist ain't male despite jodie foster has every believable characteristic of a tough guy inside her? or it's too sentimental to be taken as noirish? or it's becuz the director hasn't toyed enough of cinematography of starkness but chose naturalistic rendering instead? still, it's very engrossing to put a woman into a spot in this kind of story as gender-reversal. jodie foster has a genuine grit in her and her "tough guy" ain't like uma thurman's cartoonish "kill bill"(a semi-dominatrix vixen in boyish pulp), she conveys real fragility as well as genuine toughness to win the odds. probably she's the only woman actress who could pull off the task of action heroine without taunting her sex appeal. perhaps, a woman in the main spot would bring out some feminine aspects to mellow out such material which is supposed to be harsher, rougher and more expressionistic to be considered noirish. pitifully "the brave one" would still be labelled as "chic flick", "woman's movie" or "feministic refugee".

• KJ P

  
  This was actually better than I thought it would be, but it is a little boring sometimes!

• Wahida K

  
  I like Jodie Foster but frankly I was tiny bit of dissapointed her perfomance in this Movie. A friend described her perfomance as "tomboyish" Thats what I thought too. lol yeah it was like remake of Death Wish 3 only that Death Wish was alot better.

• Drew S

  
  Jodie Foster gives great NPR voice. The rest of the movie is not so successful. Foster herself essays a noble performance, always interesting even when the movie is going to totally improbable narrative places. It's by her virtues that The Brave One is even watchable at all,… More
  Jodie Foster gives great NPR voice. The rest of the movie is not so successful. Foster herself essays a noble performance, always interesting even when the movie is going to totally improbable narrative places. It's by her virtues that The Brave One is even watchable at all, because it really doesn't offer anything else. The action isn't all that interesting, though Neil Jordan does have a knack for communicating brutality without making it feel exploitative, and there's not very much of it. I'm inclined to believe that Jordan tried to use this action/violence thematically, but it feels stitched on and sort of unnatural. We already know most of what it tells us: that Erica is frightened, that she is desperate, that she is wounded and angry and unable to help herself. It is by the grace of Foster's inventive performance that the movie avoids massive repetition, but it lands in a completely uninspiring place as a result. Terrence Howard, meanwhile, is a total disaster. Shockingly miscast, he looks and acts babyfaced and overly fresh in a part that calls for someone restricted, beaten down and morally divided. He does not project an ounce of the character's internal conflict, instead content to ride his narrative purpose throughout the movie. He's simply window dressing, an obstacle for Erica to jump over, not a complex human being. The performance is downright lazy. Foster hasn't been doing much work lately, presumably opting for the whole motherhood thing, but this is a disappointing return to cinema. We all know that she's never going to find another Silence of the Lambs, but I have faith; surely she can do better than THIS.

• Candy R

  
  Excellent thriller. Great cast. Erica (Jodie) is a radio presenter who is viciously attacked and her partner is killed in a random attack in the park. She finds herself on a killing spree, defending herself and others in a supermarket, subway and on the streets. She has a police… More
  Excellent thriller. Great cast. Erica (Jodie) is a radio presenter who is viciously attacked and her partner is killed in a random attack in the park. She finds herself on a killing spree, defending herself and others in a supermarket, subway and on the streets. She has a police officer (Terrence) on her tail as she hunts down the gang of youths who attacked her.

• Film C

  
  This film is ok i thought it could be better. Jodie Foster plays a lady whose parter gets murdered by thugs nd beats her up as well and then from thre onwards its just her wondering around bumping into people and fiding the people who done aand getting revenge so its an ok film with… More
  This film is ok i thought it could be better. Jodie Foster plays a lady whose parter gets murdered by thugs nd beats her up as well and then from thre onwards its just her wondering around bumping into people and fiding the people who done aand getting revenge so its an ok film with a great impact i guess but a bit slow and boring

• Josh L

  
  Alot slower paced than I was expecting from the trailers. The movie was pretty boring for the most part, and the ending I was not a fan of. It's also ludicrously preposterous.

• E.J. B

  
  It's Death Sentence, the female version!!! What's funny is that if those punks had tried to mug Sayid, this film would have ended before Act II.

• Jason S

  
  This flick was a little slow to really get going but after it did I found myself pulled into the story. I really dug the characters involved and thought Terrance Howard and Foster did great jobs bringing them to life. There was some shocking grossness involved as the movie gets deeper… More
  This flick was a little slow to really get going but after it did I found myself pulled into the story. I really dug the characters involved and thought Terrance Howard and Foster did great jobs bringing them to life. There was some shocking grossness involved as the movie gets deeper and deeper but it only helps to show the horrible violence in our society. I dug the main character and wouldn't mind seeing her in a tv drama or a series of books. A radio commentator who moonlights as a vigilante...

• xGary X

  
  Jodie Foster is the DJ of probably the most boring radio show in the world and enjoys a picture postcard romance with the perfect man. When he is killed by muggers, she takes her power back by gunning down every bad guy she comes across. Yes, it's Death Wish with a chick.… More
  Jodie Foster is the DJ of probably the most boring radio show in the world and enjoys a picture postcard romance with the perfect man. When he is killed by muggers, she takes her power back by gunning down every bad guy she comes across. Yes, it's Death Wish with a chick. I've never been the biggest fan of Jodie; she's always decent, but never spectacular, and so it is with this one. She does have some very able support from Terrence Howard who once again impresses as the cop who is unknowingly pursuing her, and Neil Jordan's direction is just right; the attack scene is particularly effective, especially the "happy slapping" mobile phone footage which adds a chilling realism to the violence. But I do have some problems with it, and they pretty much all stem from the same thing. The fact that it is a mainstream Hollywood film. First, the title. "The Brave One"? I'm sorry, but that REALLY sucks in a "Half Past Dead" or "Primal Fear" kind of way! Then there's the crappy voice over that insults the audience's intelligence and the highly predictable plot, although in its initial stages, it relies on some serious leaps of faith. Namely, Jodie's terrified of going outside and yet is willing to follow a strange man into a back alley to buy an illegal weapon, and the fact that everywhere she seems to go there is a rapist/mugger/murderer lying in wait. And the ending is a total cop out. But it is very well made and holds the attention for the full duration; I just wish it had a little more character to it.

• Bannan i

  
  I'm not exactly certain, but is it just me or is there just an increase of these types of movies? Could you think these directors are making a statement upon society today? It seems the more corrupt our world becomes, or the more we recognize what is happening to it...do we get… More
  I'm not exactly certain, but is it just me or is there just an increase of these types of movies? Could you think these directors are making a statement upon society today? It seems the more corrupt our world becomes, or the more we recognize what is happening to it...do we get these stories of people taking justice into their own hands. It's an interesting scenario though, because it also brings us back to our philosophy lectures on ethics...where do we draw the line? This film is a fine example of this question being addressed...or insinuated at the very least. Well, let' s see...this is the story of Erica Bain who when walking their dog one night with her fiancee have a bit of a run in with some thugs. This run in costs her fiancee's life, and 3 weeks of hers as well. She is just a voice on the radio, and always had lived and breathed the city...even loved it. And has used a bit of time on the radio to show everyone exactly the beauty that hides within the streets. Yet, after this very incident she finds the ugliness that is masqueraded by the beauty. As she tries to mind her own business, for some reason Erica is a magnet for all kinds of criminals. Unable to sleep, or rest because of the abruptness of this attack on her life...she haunts the streets at night recording ideas to share with her audience...yet every night prowl turns out to be a run in with some kind of trouble or conflict. Slowly slipping from the person she once was, into someone else she purchases an illegal gun and ends up having to take matters into her hands more times than she can count. Eventually, her exploits are noticed by the media and the rest of the city as they voice their opinions on the work of some unknown 'vigilante'. Meanwhile, the police are looking for the cause of such effects and one detective actually interacts with her and becomes somebody she can talk to. When things start to weigh heavily upon her conscience and things looks like they are moving forward in her case, she must face a decision...to go through with it and avenge her fiance or do the 'right' thing and walk away. The movie shows how apathetic it seems that police departments are to the victims of cases such as this, when she asks to speak to the detectives assigned to her case..she's told 'I know how hard this is for you, but if you sit down there an officer will come and help you with your case.' In turn, this fuels Erica's need to take control of what she lost control of 3 weeks or so ago. I think that Jodie Foster does a phenomenal job in here, becoming that hard and stoic character that which she wasn't before getting attacked in the city she loves. Terrence Howard is a good addition as the detective who seems to find her intriguing and wants to genuinely help her. I -might- be a bit biased however, as there is a lot of prose on here when she's on the air. And, if you ask me it's freakin' brilliant poetry and that might be the only case you might want to watch this film...but sit down because you'll find yourself glued to it. At least, I was. Recommend to anyone who's ever thought about the thin line between <B>right</B> and <I>wrong</I>.

• Ginny  

  
  I thought it got kind of scarry somewhere in the middle, a few weak scenes in the beginning but once you get past those its all good, those scenes were essential in telling the story anyway. I cried while watching this, teehee, ='>!

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