Brave One, The

Rating: ***/*****, or 7/10

Restrained, preachy revenge thriller, starring Jodie Foster as a woman living a happy life as a radio host in New York City with her fiancé (Naveen Andrews) and her dog, until she finds that life shattered one night when a group of thugs violently assaults her and her lover, leaving the latter dead. Now scarred for life and the victim of intense panic attacks, she only dares to leave her house with a gun, which she ends up using as she is again confronted by scumbags, accidentally at first, Soon after though, she willingly seeks out trouble, killing several more thugs in an effort to make the streets safer for decent people. Of course the police are sent to discover the identity of this new vigilante, leading to a friendship between her and a sympathetic detective (Terrence Howard), which is endangered by her continuing quest for vengeance. The predictable first act of the movie revolves around the simple question 'will he help her track down her fiancé's killers or will he arrest her?'. With the less than rhetoric tag line 'How many wrongs to make it right?' the movie of course does not hide its simplistic message that revenge is never the answer and instead always the easy solution, which leads to a typical thriller devoid of narrative surprises. However, the vicious initial assault on the protagonist and her lover slaps you hard in the face and does help you feel for this woman as she seeks out bad guys around the city with her gun, making sure fewer people will live through the horror she experienced, something many people the world over will have fantasized about. As an examination of the addictive power of gun wielding in America this movie succeeds better, though again, it never rises above the level of a standard thriller.

Starring: Jodie Foster, Terrence Howard, Naveen Andrews

Directed by Neil Jordan

USA: Warner Bros, 2007