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The Brave One
Sep. 16th, 2007 10:40 amI went to see The Brave One last night. Some of the media have been comparing it to Taxi Driver, but other then the fact that Jodie Foster starred in both movies, there's really no similarity.
The Brave One is a vigilante movie, set in post 9/11 New York, "the safest big city in the world," as Jodie's character, radio personality Erica Bain, keeps saying. She's the victim of a violent crime, and decides to become a vigilante. Unlike De Niro's character in Taxi Driver, she's a solid citizen. Think Charles Bronson in Death Wish. Although both are viligante movies, The Brave One is vastly better.
Things The Brave One has in common with other vigilante movies:
* Getting a gun - the only time Hollywood comes close to getting it right about the hassles of legally buying a gun is in vigilante movies. Here, Jodie's character has to buy one illegally for several times its retail value.
* Once the character has a gun, opportunities to use it abound. This is obviously an artifact of plot - a vigilante that never shoots anybody makes for a boring movie.
Things The Brave One does better then other vigilante movies:
* Jodie Foster. The lady could make reading the phone book sound dramatic. Here, she's got lots of material to work for. Example, one of her targets (he's definitely not a "victim") asks, "What are you, some kind of cop?" She gets more out of the reply "you wish" then most actors could get out of a page of Shakespeare.
* Tight writing. The writers have good ears for dialog. As the example above illustrates, they get the idea that in movies, sometimes less is more. Making Jodie's character a radio personality (kind of an NPR-type entertainer and commentator) allows lots of freedom as well.
* Well plotted. Jodie's character isn't perfect, and she makes mistakes. Without getting two spoiler-ish, in one scene she kills two people, but thinks she could have just scared them. Later, she tries to just scare somebody else, but that goes wrong.
* Internal suffering. We see the toll this is taking on Jodie's character, and it's a real one. She's is not at all convinced that she's doing the right thing, and it shows. Terrence Howard, as the detective investigating the killings, also has problems.
In short, I was very impressed with The Brave One, and recommend you go see it.
The Brave One is a vigilante movie, set in post 9/11 New York, "the safest big city in the world," as Jodie's character, radio personality Erica Bain, keeps saying. She's the victim of a violent crime, and decides to become a vigilante. Unlike De Niro's character in Taxi Driver, she's a solid citizen. Think Charles Bronson in Death Wish. Although both are viligante movies, The Brave One is vastly better.
Things The Brave One has in common with other vigilante movies:
* Getting a gun - the only time Hollywood comes close to getting it right about the hassles of legally buying a gun is in vigilante movies. Here, Jodie's character has to buy one illegally for several times its retail value.
* Once the character has a gun, opportunities to use it abound. This is obviously an artifact of plot - a vigilante that never shoots anybody makes for a boring movie.
Things The Brave One does better then other vigilante movies:
* Jodie Foster. The lady could make reading the phone book sound dramatic. Here, she's got lots of material to work for. Example, one of her targets (he's definitely not a "victim") asks, "What are you, some kind of cop?" She gets more out of the reply "you wish" then most actors could get out of a page of Shakespeare.
* Tight writing. The writers have good ears for dialog. As the example above illustrates, they get the idea that in movies, sometimes less is more. Making Jodie's character a radio personality (kind of an NPR-type entertainer and commentator) allows lots of freedom as well.
* Well plotted. Jodie's character isn't perfect, and she makes mistakes. Without getting two spoiler-ish, in one scene she kills two people, but thinks she could have just scared them. Later, she tries to just scare somebody else, but that goes wrong.
* Internal suffering. We see the toll this is taking on Jodie's character, and it's a real one. She's is not at all convinced that she's doing the right thing, and it shows. Terrence Howard, as the detective investigating the killings, also has problems.
In short, I was very impressed with The Brave One, and recommend you go see it.
