The Brave One
The title refers to Erica Bane, the New York radio host who survives a brutal mugging in Central Park even though her boyfriend (Naveen Andrews) is killed in the attack and their dog taken. It’s intended meaning is that in surviving the attack, Erica is brave for getting on with her life. But the question at the heart of Neil Jordan’s thriller is whether while Erica survived the attack, can she survive the aftermath of having a loved one taken from her? Her voiceover- some intended to be from her radio show- suits the character’s changing moods.
The film, propelled in large part by Dario Marianelli’s evocative score, rises and falls with Jordan and screenwriters Roderick Taylor & Bruce A. Taylor and Cynthia Mort’s decision on how far to follow Erica’s descent into vigilante justice, with the film’s climax causing the biggest stir. I won’t spoil it here, but suffice to say, even fans of the conclusion may balk at what it means for what proceeded it. On top of which, apart of the question of what it means thematically, does the film earn the about face? Even if you dislike the ending, you can’t say that it’s not what Erica (Jodie Foster) and Detective Mercer (Terrance Howard) would do in real-life; at least, there’s more ambiguity to that possibility than a hinted-at “romantic angle” which feels misplaced and completely out-of-character. Love it or hate it, it does guarantee a visceral reaction, which is not unusual for a Neil Jordan film, be it “The Crying Game,” “Interview With the Vampire,” “Michael Collins,” and “The Butcher Boy.”
It’s not out of the question for a film of Foster’s, either, and it’s no surprise to find out that her motivations in choosing the film had a lot to do with her involvement in Martin Scorsese’s “Taxi Driver,” where she played a prostitute whom Robert DeNiro’s vigilante Travis Bickle tries to save, a story device slyly echoed, at one point in this film. Once “The Brave One” began to mirror that film’s look at a mind out to drift in madness, Foster came on board, and she delivers a performance on par with the earlier one’s virtuosity and versatility. If some of her choices of later have been have been a bit of a disappointment (I mean, “Flightplan?”; I’ll take “Panic Room,” “Silence of the Lambs,” or her spunky turn in “Inside Man” anyday), she makes amends big time here, delving into the heart of darkness of a character whose optimism and hope in humanity is shattered. Look for major Oscar talk for her powerhouse work here, a study in character as we’ve come to expect from Foster.
But equally important to “The Brave One” is Howard (an Oscar nominee for “Hustle & Flow”) as Mercer. He’s the cop who is on the vigilante’s case, and he also befriends Erica after she comes to look for information on her case. Howard excels- as we’ve come to expect from him since “Hustle & Flow” and “Crash”- at not only showing Mercer’s by-the-book police work in tracking, well, Erica, but also hint at the darker, less bound by the book edge in the character, as shown in his discussions of a playboy millionaire whom he knows to be guilty of serious offenses, but who gets off because of his charm and money. That more ambiguous side, and the honest bond that he forms with Erica, is what allows you to accept his actions at the end as what his character would do in that situation. Like his costar, Howard is a force of nature. And as guided by Jordan’s sure hand, you find yourself easily drawn into both Foster and Howard’s descent into the heart of darkness in this fascinating thriller. You can’t take your eyes off it…even if you want to.
