DVD Reviews

The Brave One

• Rating:
• Director: Neil Jordan
• Starring: Jodie Foster
• Details: US / 119mins (16).

Revenge movies these days are ten-a-penny, with the likes of Death Sentence, Straightheads and Outlaw all released in the last year. Although those movies had their faults, they at least spat anger and hate at society, and seemed to believe in what they were doing; The Brave One, however, is a lethargic, redundant affair. Foster plays DJ Erica Bain who, after suffering a gang attack that killed her fiance, takes to the streets to exact revenge on the scum that stalk the city. On the case is dedicated detective Mercer (Howard), and Bain attempts to get an inside track on his investigation by interviewing him for her radio show. The Brave One attempts to do a Taxi Driver or a Falling Down - a thriller that blurs the lines between hero and anti-hero while making a damning diatribe on society - but brings nothing new (apart from the obvious female empowerment angle) to the table. Content to cuckold the themes of other revenge/vigilante movies explored without trying to raise its own points, The Brave One is the Ronan Keating of this growing sub genre: safe, dull and annoying. The dialogue, especially Foster's insipid voiceover, isn't up to much, but it's character implausibility that's most glaring.

Review by Gavin Burke