The Brave One (Combo HD DVD and Standard DVD) [HD DVD]

The Brave One (Combo HD DVD and Standard DVD) [HD DVD] Review

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As the title of my review reflects, I am a woman who luckily has only suffered the degradation and fear of being "Date Raped". But the most riveting line in the movie is the scene on the subway, when a young "gang-banger" asked her "Have you ever been f***** with a knife?" I am asking men who are reading this: What if a man who was stronger and pointing a gun at you, cornered you in an isolated place made this threat, clearly capable and intending to carry it out? In your most private and vulnerable place?

If you had a gun, which she was using as protection, because, for her, the world was no longer safe, I believe most men would find that they would do anything to protect themselves as well. Because rape is about power and humiliation and degradation.

Finally, she also saved a homeless girl (obviously underage)from a vicious pimp and got her to safety. This film was about vindication and protection and Terrance Howard's character, a detective who had been following the case, understood. He took her gun, and her promise that the killing would stop. And it did.

Thank you for considering my comments.

The Brave One (Combo HD DVD and Standard DVD) [HD DVD] Feature

The Brave One (Combo HD DVD and Standard DVD) [HD DVD] Overview

Neil Jordan's somber The Brave One is a lot of things. A reflective movie about a crime victim's sense of dislocation and isolation from her own life following a harrowing trauma, the film will strike a chord with a lot of people who have known violence. The Brave One is also a provocative drama about the nature of justice, a theme explored endlessly in American movies that typically find law enforcement wanting. In Jordan's film, however, the conflict between instinctive vigilantism and legal protocols is approached with more deliberateness and complexity than usual. Finally, despite its seriousness of purpose, The Brave One, to a certain extent, is drearily tethered to the old atrocity-and-revenge genre, bumping along to the familiar, Death Wish-like rhythms of an avenger seeking successive conflicts with bad guys he or she can blow away.

Somewhat at cross-purposes, The Brave One stars Jodie Foster in a shattering performance as Erica Bain, a popular essayist on a public radio station in New York. In love and engaged to David (Naveen Andrews), a doctor, Erica and her fiancé are brutally attacked one night by a gang of thugs. David is killed but Erica survives, only to find herself a stranger in her own skin, facing down her fears by shooting violent criminals.

With the city riveted by her anonymous actions, Erica becomes an object of curiosity for a police detective (an excellent Terrence Howard) disillusioned by his own struggles to protect the innocent from truly evil men. Jordan's previous films (The Crying Game, Breakfast on Pluto) resonate with The Brave One's most interesting angle, i.e., that each of us possesses a hidden element in our identities that comes out in extreme circumstances, making us wonder who we really are. It's all excellent food for thought, but the film squanders much of its significance by thrusting Erica into numerous, outlandish situations in which her only alternative is to put a bullet in a bad guy. The result is a smart film tediously structured like a disposable B movie. --Tom Keogh

The Brave One (Combo HD DVD and Standard DVD) [HD DVD] Specifications

Studio: Warner Home Video Release Date: 02/26/2008 Run time: 122 minutes Rating: R






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Exciting Film, great performance by Foster - Diana de Avila - Malta, NY USA
I am a huge fan of Jodie Foster and just saw this film a few days ago and loved it. A great performance definitely on par with The Silence of the Lambs [Blu-ray]. Exciting, and a fast mover. Jodie Foster's character kicks butt and the film is entertaining for those people who have enjoyed films with Jodie Foster in them or have enjoyed Enough with Jennifer Lopez. The female characters get the last word. :)

I liked it a lot!

A Soul Pitted Against Itself. - Jusuf Hariman - Australia
Of THE BRAVE ONE, Rob Lowing, the Sun Herald says' "Class acts (jodie) Foster and (Terence) Howard deliver enough great moments to rivets viewers to a suspenseful, contemporary urban tale". Again, of the same tale, Vicky Roach, the Daily Telegraph says, "An impeccably acted, stylishly directed thoroughly involving thriller that sustains its audience's interests right up until the bitter end". "WHY DON'T THEY STOP ME?" Erica bain wonders. Bain, a popular New York radio Host, watched her fiancee die and nearly lost her own life to a vicious, random attack. Now she discovers a stranger within herself, an armed wanderer in the urban night, out of vengeance and at war with her own soul. Two-time Academy Award winner Jodie Foster as Erica joins Oscar nominee Terrence Howard as a determined cop hot on her trail. Erica's future is uncertain but one thing is not: THE BRAVE ONE is a high-tension thriller that packs a visceral and emotional punch. Two special features: (1). Director Neil Jordan crafts a movie that pays homage to the vigilante film genre-and turns it on its head; and (2). Intimate and moving additional scenes.

Somebody's Got A...Wish...For...um...Death - Brian Lueth - Chicago, IL United States
Solid Acting? Check. Jaw-dropping violence? Check. Jodie Foster looking exceptionally well for her age? Check. Hmm, this sounds like a winner, doesn't it? Well, believe it or not...it is. The Brave One is a believable and effective revenge thriller that's highly reminiscent of 1974's Death Wish. In my opinion, Death Wish is a classic and Bronson is the man's man to end all man's men but Jodie Foster acts circles around Bronson and, let's be honest, is far better looking. Does that mean this is a better film? I wouldn't say its better but it's a darn good film nonetheless.

The Brave One kicked tail, it really did. It wasn't amazing but I let out some audible gasps while watching this as well as a "Holy Crap!" once or twice and that spells entertainment in my book. It's never going to be a classic or anything but nu-sploitation films like this and Death Sentence have really put a smile on my face. If you haven't seen The Brave One, do so. Foster may walk soft (and occasionally manly) but she carries a very lethal stick.