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WHEN YOU DEATH WISH UPON A STAR
THE BRAVE ONE (R) Moments exist in new vigi
lante fantasy The Brave One, where, momentarily,
vengeance seems right and just, the civilized
response to a civilization whose foundations—
both moral and judicial—are cracking. Unlike
August's Death Sentence, an ethically ambiguous
(actually, the film was a moral non-starter) slice
of the old ultraviolence, The Brave One dares
to question vigilantism's godlike arrogance, its
Old Testament-style, "eye for an eye, tooth for a
tooth," Wild West-brand of justice more than any
film in the genre's semi-proud history.
Forged in the fires of the 1970s, a decade
filled with crises (presidential, economic, en
vironmental, military and social), the genre is
defined by the 1974 "classic," Death Wish, fea
turing Charles Bronson's iconic portrayal of Paul
Kersey, an everyman who avenges his wife and
daughter with a criminal killing spree. Several
critics have posited similarities between the
Instead, Jordan and company bring weighty
questions of conscience into the proceedings.
Who is Erica becoming? What part of herself has
she spent to regain the upper hand against fear?
Will she ever be able to find herself again or
have her actions changed her forever?
The Brave One offers few simple answers.
What the film presents in place of answers is
humanity aptly represented by the talented duo
of Foster and Howard. Whether cowering, cruel
or conscience-plagued, The Brave One is Erica
and Erica is Foster. Yet she lacks the sexuality to
sell the few early scenes of domestic bliss with
Andrews and later flirtation with Mercer. (The
sole sex scene, which Jordan skillfully splices
with Erica and David's torn bodies being denuded
in the hospital, requires the obvious service of a
body double.) Foster connects most powerfully
and emotionally with characters who are alone
due to loss. As the recently divorced NYPD detec-
Jodie Foster
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salad days of 70s vigilantism and its resurgence
in the '00s. An unpopular president, an unwin-
nable war, rising gas prices and cultural upheaval
have all returned. Why shouldn't the one-man—
or woman—judge, jury and executioner? (We
can't be that far away from a remake of The Star
Chamber, the 1983 alternative justice flick star
ring Michael Douglas as an idealistic young judge
turned member of a hitman-hiring secret court.)
In The Brave One, radio personality Erica
Bain (Jodie Foster), host of the program, "Street
Walk," where she waxes poetic about the city
she loves, and her fianc£, David Kirmani (Naveen
Andrews, Sayid of ABC's "Lost"), are assaulted
while walking their dog through Central Park. The
brutalization, digitally captured by the gang of
thugs on a cell phone, leaves Erica damaged and
comatose. David is savagely beaten to death with
a pipe. Broken mentally and physically. Erica is
now terrified of the streets she once called nome.
Her fear leads her to illegally purchase a gun;
that gun leads her to kill a man in self-defense.
Soon, Erica is simultaneously rebuilding and los
ing herself to an empowering killing spree being
investigated by a new acquaintance. Detective
Sean Mercer (Terrence Howard).
Moral quandaries abound in The Brave One.
Director Neil Jordan {The Crying Game) and writ
ers Roderick Taylor, Bruce A. Taylor and Cynthia
Mort don't revel in the blood and gristle of
Erica's conquests (that's more the style of Death
Sentence's James Wan, though the "heroes"
of both The Brave One and Death Sentence do
share a predilection for the cleansing—but not
purifying—post-first kill shower); the kills are
too quick and impersonal to salaciously gratify.
tive, Howard is merely additional flavoring. This
fine actor seasons the film as little more than a
glorified almost-love interest. Still, he shines no
matter what he is asked to do, even when that
request amounts to little more than looking the
part of a conscientious, concerned, morally as
sured policeman.
Fingering the politics of the vigilante film
and discerning whether or not they matter is
tricky. Most would clothe this entire genre in the
coat of conservatism. Vigilantes are pro-gun and
obviously pro-death penalty, yet they lack a fun
damental faith in the system of law and order. An
independent, fortysomething professional woman
engaged to a foreigner. Erica obviously begins
the film as liberal as Charlie Bronson's conscien
tious objector. Untrained in gunplay. Erica finds
solace in the authority of a firearm, recasting
herself as a conservative cowboy doling out jus
tice as she sees fit, but she always questions her
actions, wondering whether she's become what
she is fighting. Be it ultimately left or right. The
Brave One turns flip in its climax, seemingly ne
gating the hemming and hawing of the previous
two hours. (However, the deadpan levity of Nicky
Katt, as Mercer's partner, provides a much-needed
respite from Foster's tortured hand-wringing.)
With its heady intellectualizing of vigilantism,
The Brave One denies the audience vigilante
cinema's greatest asset, the violent catharsis.
OveTcorrecting the moral deficiency of Death
Sentence and its ilk, The Brave One entertains so
many unanswerable, high-minded queries that it
fails to entertainingly answer any of them.
Drew Wheeler
18 FLAGP0LE.C0M • SEPTEMBER 19, 2007 NEWS & FEATURE
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