KEY POINTS:
Herald Rating: * * *
Cast: Jodie Foster, Terrence Howard, Naveen Andrews, Mary Steenburgen, Jane Adams
Director: Neil Jordan
Running time: 123 mins
Rating: R16, violence & offensive language
Screening: SkyCity, Hoyts and Berkeley
Verdict: Starts off strong, but loses its way trying to be both an emotional drama and fast paced thriller.
The Brave One, from provocative director Neil Jordan (The Crying Game), stars Jodi Foster as the victim of a violent crime who takes matters into her own hands, combining an emotional drama with an intense thriller.
However, while it's a nicely shot and directed vigilante film, The Brave One unfortunately misses the mark.
On one hand, it's an emotional and realistic look at the devastation violent crime can have on its victims - in this case New York radio host Erica Bain (Foster).
On the other, it's a gripping thriller where right, wrong and believability are sacrificed for good old "shoot 'em up" action. It is a struggle to meld the two.
Visually The Brave One is dark and brooding, set in a dangerous New York you imagine existed before Rudy Giuliani cleaned it up and it became known as "the safest big city in the world".
In fact The Brave One should really be called The Fearful One, as it's a fear of the city and its inhabitants that drives Foster's character.
She is viciously beaten and her fiance David (Andrews) killed in a mugging in Central Park. Bain struggles to put her life back together. At first terrified to leave her own apartment, she slowly ventures out; only to find herself in another traumatic situation and where she acts in self defence, killing a man.
Bain escapes from the crime scene unnoticed, and with a taste of what retribution feels like, starts walking the streets of her beloved New York, looking for the kind of guys the law doesn't seem to be able to do anything about, and deals with them herself.
Her crusade becomes even more dangerous when she befriends NYPD Detective Sean Mercer (Howard), who is investigating the murders, and the two of them develop an unusual and testing friendship.
Foster puts in another passionate and intense performance, but she too falls victim to the film's mixed messages.
As Bain's character develops the vigilante alter ego, any compassion you felt for her after the devastating attack quickly vanishes.
There may have been some initial intention to delve into the "eye for an eye" storyline, but the moral discussion is sacrificed for an action-based story that doesn't ring true, and in the end subsides disappointingly into very little.
