DVD Review - “The Brave One”
GRADE: D
I generally love most of Jodie Foster’s movies, the girl can still open a movie at number one on top of the box office after all these years. I loved “Panic Room” and didn’t hate “Flightplan”, but her last movie with Spike Lee titled “Inside Man” was a massive snore-fest. It really pains me so much to say that this most recent outing by Foster is trashy, silly and too dark for it’s own good. Not even Oscar nominee Terrence Howard can save this mess.
Like a dragged out Lifetime made for TV movie starring either Meredith Baxter-Birney or Nancy McKeon, “The Brave One” comes off like an amateurish snuff film with no real point to it. I am all for female empowerment films, but the unbelievable plot and laughable dialog cannot keep this movie from going into campy territory (and not in a good way)!
As the movie unfolds we watch Jodie’s character suffer one unrealistic dangerous situation after another, and soon we start rooting for the bad guys. The film becomes absurd half way through as Foster becomes a Charles Bronson like vigilante with a grudge against “evil-doers” she just happens to bump into. Watching Foster chew up the scenery gets old after a while and I found myself feeling dirty and irritated towards the movie’s final frames.
This movie is not even mildly entertaining, but it is an absolute mess through and through. From the unbelievable casting of “Lost” actor Naveen Andrews as Foster’s love interest to the unnecessary graphic violence, “The Brave One” loses its way by blending mellow drama with a revenge fantasy. I say skip this movie and watch re-runs of crappy Lifetime or Hallmark movies starring Tori Spelling instead, you may get more laughs!
May 22nd, 2008 at 6:16 pm
Foster did a pretty good job in Brave One… a good demonstration of the power of fear; it felt like the cop compromised his convictions at the end, tho, kind of a let down