The Brave One (2007 film)

The Brave One
Theatrical release poster
Directed by	Neil Jordan
Written by	Roderick Taylor Bruce A. Taylor Cynthia Mort
Produced by	Susan Downey Joel Silver
Starring	Jodie Foster Terrence Howard Naveen Andrews Nicky Katt Mary Steenburgen
Cinematography	Philippe Rousselot
Edited by	Tony Lawson
Music by	Dario Marianelli
Production companies	Village Roadshow Pictures Silver Pictures
Distributed by	Warner Bros. Pictures
Release dates	September 14, 2007 (2007-09-14) (US) October 11, 2007 (2007-10-11) (AUS)
Running time	122 minutes
Countries	United States Australia
Language	English
Budget	$40 million
Box office	$69 million

The Brave One is a 2007 American psychological thriller film directed by Neil Jordan and written by Roderick Taylor, Bruce A. Taylor and Cynthia Mort. The film stars Jodie Foster as Erica Bain, a New York City radio host who along with her partner, is severely beaten by thugs, leading to the latter's death. Terrified for her safety, she buys a pistol. Armed with the gun, she undergoes a personality transformation and becomes a vigilante, shooting a number of criminals. Detective Sean Mercer (Howard) investigates the vigilante shootings, which lead him closer and closer to Bain. The film features Naveen Andrews, Terrence Howard, Nicky Katt, Zoë Kravitz, Mary Steenburgen and Luis Da Silva in supporting roles.

The Brave One was released in the United States on September 14, 2007. The film received mixed reviews from critics who acclaimed Foster's performance but criticized its execution. It was a box office disappointment grossing $69 million worldwide. At the 65th Golden Globe Awards, Foster received a nomination for Best Actress Motion Picture in a Drama.

Plot

Radio host Erica Bain (Jodie Foster) and her fiancé David (Naveen Andrews) are viciously attacked by three men while walking their dog in Central Park; the men film the assault on their phones, and take Erica's engagement ring and her dog. David dies from his injuries and Erica finds herself unable to continue her life as normal.

Traumatized and living in fear, she attempts to purchase a gun but is denied a sale due to having no gun license. A nearby black market gun dealer overhears her desperation for protection and offers to sell her a Kahr K9 pistol for $1000. Unwilling to wait 30 days for a legal firearm, Erica buys the handgun from him.

One evening while Erica is at a convenience store, a man enters and shoots the store's cashier. Hearing Erica's cell phone ring, the man stalks her in the aisles before she shoots him dead. Another night on a subway car, two men harass the passengers, all of whom leave except Erica. The men then threaten her with a knife, and she shoots them dead. Later on, Erica attempts to save a prostitute by threatening her pimp. When he attempts to run them down with his car, Erica shoots him in the head, causing his car to run over the prostitute. She is injured but lives.

Fuelled by rage and a need for vengeance, Erica begins to track down the three men who killed David. Meanwhile she strikes up a friendship with Detective Sean Mercer (Terrence Howard), who is investigating the vigilante killings around the city, and eventually comes to suspect her when he learns the vigilante is female. Mercer takes Erica with him to interview the prostitute she had saved, but the prostitute does not let on that she recognizes Erica. Erica, after learning of a particularly frustrating case for Mercer, kills the suspect. Mercer privately indicates to Erica that he suspects her but is struggling with what to do about it.

The police ask Erica to identify one of the suspects in her attack; though she recognizes the assailant, she does not identify him. She is later informed the police have found her engagement ring at a pawn shop, and goes there to get a name, address and phone number of who sold it to them. She tracks down one of her attacker's ex-girlfriends. The woman is initially too frightened to reveal her boyfriend's whereabouts, but she later sends Erica the video recording of her attack and his address. Erica forwards the video onto Mercer.

Erica tracks down all three men, and confronts and kills two of them before freeing her dog. She struggles with the third attacker who gains the upper hand just as Mercer arrives. As Mercer attempts to arrest the attacker, Erica retrieves her weapon and prepares to execute him. Mercer persuades Erica to lower her gun, but after looking into her pleading eyes, hands her his own gun to use instead, and Erica shoots him dead. He then insists that Erica wound him with her gun, which she does, allowing them to frame her attackers for the vigilante killings. Mercer then places her gun in the last attacker's hand and Erica leaves. She walks through Central Park joined by her dog.

Cast

• Jodie Foster as Erica Bain
• Terrence Howard as Detective Sean Mercer
• Naveen Andrews as David Kirmani
• Nicky Katt as Detective Vitale
• Zoë Kravitz as Chloe
• Mary Steenburgen as Carol
• Luis Da Silva as Lee
• Jane Adams as Nicole
• John Magaro as Ethan
• Angel Sing as Black Market Gun Dealer
• Dana Eskelson as police sketch artist
• Carmen Ejogo as Jackie
• James Biberi as Detective Pitney
• Lenny Venito as Mortell
• Larry Fessenden as Sandy Combs
• An Nguyen as Ida Combs

Release

Box office

In its opening weekend in the United States and Canada, the film was #1 at the box office, grossing $13,471,488 in 2,755 theaters. As of December 29, 2007, the film has grossed $69,787,394 worldwide—$36,793,804 in the United States and Canada and $32,993,590 in other territories.

Critical reception

The film received mixed reviews from critics. Rotten Tomatoes gives it a score of 43% based on 183 reviews. On Metacritic, the film had an average score of 56%, based on 33 reviews.

Roger Ebert of the Chicago Sun-Times gave the film 31⁄2 stars (out of 4); saying Foster and Howard "are perfectly modulated in the kinds of scenes difficult for actors to play, where they both know more than they're saying, and they both know it."

Awards and nominations

The film received one Golden Globe nomination when the nominees for the 65th Golden Globe Awards were announced by the Hollywood Foreign Press Association. Foster was nominated for Best Performance by an Actress in a Motion Picture - Drama.

See also

• Bernhard Goetz
• Death Wish
• Eye for an Eye
• Taxi Driver

External links

• The Brave One at IMDb
• The Brave One at the TCM Movie Database
• The Brave One at AllMovie
• DVD Talk on The Brave One