The Brave One
DIR: Neil Jordan • WRI: Roderick Taylor, Bruce A. Taylor, Cynthia Mort • PROD: Susan Downey            ,  Joel Silver • DOP: Philippe Rousselot • ED: Tony Lawson • DES: Kristi Zea • CAST: Jodie Foster, Terrence Howard, Naveen Andrews, Nicky Katt, Mary Steenburgen

As is often the case with tricky subjects, the finest treatise on vigilante justice can be found in an episode of The Simpsons. Following a spate of burglaries in Springfield, Homer sets up a vigilante group to combat the new menace. When Lisa asks him why they have yet to catch the person responsible, he responds, ‘The mob is working on getting your saxophone back. But we've also expanded into other important areas. Literacy programs, preserving our beloved covered bridges, world domination…’ The point of the scene, and the episode, is clear - it might start out a quest for justice, but taking the law into your own hands often ends up spiraling out of control. It’s a concept that most vigilante films (98% of which inevitably star Charles Bronson) fail to grasp. Fortunately, while the premise of The Brave One – a woman avenges the murder of her fiancé by killing criminals – may suggest the mindless revenge fantasies of those films, it instead offers some new ground for the genre to tread – and does so with style and intelligence.
 
Jodie Foster is Erica, a successful radio presenter who is engaged to Naveen Andrews (aka Sayid from Lost, unnervingly sporting his real English accent here). Living in New York ('The Safest Big City in the World'), her show consists of essays on the Big Apple post-9/11, primarily lamenting the disappearance of grit and grime from its streets. Overall, she lives the kind of implausibly happy life that only exists in the movies – until she and her fiancé are attacked by thugs one night in Central Park. She is beaten into a 3-week coma, and he is killed. When she wakes up, the city that once seemed like home suddenly becomes a nightmare metropolis, filled with the kind of ‘character’ her show had been nostalgic for. Eventually, however, she tires of living in fear, and does what any good American would do ­– she gets her hands on a gun.
 
It doesn't take long to realise that The Brave One is a step above your average Death Wish. Neil Jordan is one the most varied and interesting directors around, and he cuts to the chase with considerable skill. We're not given much time to spend with Foster and her husband, so Jordan uses a few clever devices to keep us involved – artfully cutting between shots of the two being rushed into hospital and a sex scene is one such example. There's also a considerable amount of time before Foster decides to wipe the scum off the streets, during which Jordan’s camera expertly portrays her anxiety, seesawing and slipping out of focus. Foster, meanwhile, can do this sort of thing – intelligent, liberal, strong women – in her sleep. It's a credit to both director and star that, when Erica suddenly pulls the trigger on a thug in a liquor store, we are totally convinced that it's a natural turn of events. In fact, all of Erica's kills are in self-defence, something that's crucial in inspiring empathy. The balance between hero and murderer is difficult to get right in this genre, but Jordan gives us enough to work with on both sides of the character. Erica doesn't enjoy the things she does, but she doesn't necessarily regret them either. At one point, she even attempts to give herself in, but quickly changes her mind when she witnesses the flaws in the legal system first-hand. The film is as even-handed and liberal as it gets in almost all respects; the portrayal of all of New York’s criminals as either standard issue black or Hispanic thugs is a worrying exception, particularly since the film is at pains to state that Erica is by no means a racist. Still, it’s an easy flaw to overlook in a major Hollywood film that not only provides a decent role for a middle-aged woman, but also gives her a black man as a potential love interest.
 
Once a few more bodies start appearing (it's worth noting that Foster is easily the most unlucky person in New York, being present at no less than three dangerous situations following her attack), the police naturally start to get suspicious. Detective Mercer, played by the excellent Terence Howard, starts to take an interest in the possible vigilante, and it’s here that the movie finds its emotional core. Being a middle-aged, wealthy, white female, Foster's character hardly fits the description of avenging angel, while those she kills are criminals who usually deserve it. As a result the NYPD can’t even come close to the true identity of the vigilante. Mercer, however, begins to put the pieces of the puzzle together, a fact made all the more interesting by the fact that he and Erica are in a friendly relationship. Isolated and contained following her attack, even more so when she starts her vigilante crusade, Mercer represents the only real companion Erica has – and he’s the one looking for her. It’s in this central relationship that Jordan explores the ideas of loyalty, honesty, and morality – themes that resonate throughout the film. One scene in a diner towards the end is particularly moving, to the extent that you think Jordan may simply end his film on an ambiguous note. But the film has entirely different places to take you, and it’s an ending that will divide many audiences. While Jordan’s film spends most of it’s time weighing up the rights and wrongs of vigilantism, the climax presents its heroine and its audience with a tricky moral dilemma that will no doubt leave a surprising taste.
 
Throughout the film there are subtle echoes of other movies. Aside from the obvious throwbacks to the Death Wish series, a comparison could be made to Taxi Driver (featuring a young Foster), with the grimy streets of the ’70s Big Apple replaced by glossy new storefronts. There are even suggestions that this is a kind of social, feminist superhero movie, with Foster as a capeless crusader fighting evildoers under cover of darkness. Either way, The Brave One is a compelling piece of work, one saved from feeling like exploitation by a strong leading lady and an experienced, hugely talented director.

Scott Townsend
(Read biog here)

Rated 16 (see IFCO website for details)
The Brave One is released on 21st September 2007
The Brave One – Official website