Brave But Not Original

The Brave One, directed by Neil Jordan, is the story of a woman who takes matters into her own hands after the love of her life was brutally beaten to death by the common criminal that roams the streets of New York.

This story is one we are very familiar with, but perhaps will never get tired of. It is the "Vigilante" film, the story of a, presumably, youngish man who goes through a severe physical and psychological disorder in his life that nearly kills him but nonetheless doesn't. Therefore given him the strength required to take action against the evil aspects of society.

In the case of The Brave One, the vigilante happens to be a woman. Now, this is something that is not new to the history of vigilante films. Female defendants of society and/or dominatrices have become more often or better said, popular than before. We've got Trinity from The Matrix, The Bride from Kill Bill and the most recent- Hit-Girl from Kick-Ass. With The Brave One, however, we see a different type of heroine. She is not a superhero. She is not an expert at the martial arts. She is just a regular person, with a regular job and regular life. And that's what differentiates her from all the rest. And we identify with her because of that.

Nonetheless, it is still a vigilante film. No rules are changed. But for some reason it still manages to entertain you and I would have to say it's all in big part by Jody Foster who plays Erica Bain, or what some may call the female Travis Bickle, a radio host turned dark knight. Foster is simply superb. She is deeply within this character. She is transformed into a vividly scary persona that only comes from a scarred situation. Jodie Foster is a veteran of Taxi Driver so she clearly understands the realm of this world. A world not to far away from our own neighborhoods but unfortunately too familiar to us to surprise us.

The Brave One was directed by Neil Jordan the man behind Interview with the Vampire a film i'm very passionate about but nevertheless find it kind'f dull. The reason to that is that Jordan's casting is 99% appropriate only to be fallowed by a unfortunate predictable story. The Brave One is like that. The acting, mainly Foster's performance, is adequate and great but the story sadly falls short.

***