CS Weekly Archive > Weekend Read > 09/14/07

Brave But Flawed

By david michael wharton

The Brave One

Screenplay by Roderick Taylor & Bruce A. Taylor and Cynthia Mort
Story by Roderick Taylor & Bruce A. Taylor

After a brutal attack in Central Park leaves radio talk show host Erica Bain (Jodie Foster) near death and her fiancé David (Naveen Andrews) dead, the mental and emotional damage proves to be far more insidious than the bruises and broken bones. Paralyzed at the thought of leaving her apartment, Erica sees imagined threats in every shadow of the city streets she once loved. An illegally purchased gun and another brush with violent crime soon put her on the wrong side of the law from NYPD detective Sean Mercer (Terrence Howard), whose initial sympathy and concern slowly turns to suspicion that Erica may be behind the string of vigilante murders dotting the city. The basic set up is one that's been used countless times from Death Wish to Batman, but The Brave One sets out to be a more thoughtful examination of the spiritual toll of vengeance than, say, this month's Death Sentence. Erica's embrace of violence sickens and disturbs her even as it enthralls her, turning her into a stranger even to herself. Erica and Detective Mercer are written as smart, complicated people, and the gradual process of Mercer coming to suspect her and her realizing his suspicions is well handled and intense. Which, unfortunately, only makes it that much more frustrating when the second half of the film rolls around and these smart, complicated people begin acting like they've stepped into a different movie, and not a particularly good one. What is for the first hour a thoughtful, well-crafted meditation on the nature of justice and victimization comes completely off the rails in the third act, fundamentally betraying the rules of both good storytelling in general and this story in particular. If only this movie ended in a manner true to how it began, that star rating up there would be closer to four stars than two.

The Brave One
Warner Bros.
Rated R; 122 min.

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David Michael Wharton is the managing editor of CS Weekly and a writer for Creative Screenwriting Magazine. He cloaks all his vigilante rampages behind the comfortable anonymity of a colorful spandex costume.

The Brave One courtesy Warner Bros.

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