What Do The Critics Say?

"With Panic Room, Flight Plan, and now The Brave One, Jodie Foster is on the verge of becoming an action star. An odd career move for an actress on the down side of forty. If she has to get wrapped up in ass-kicking though, The Brave One is the way to do it. In exploring what fear has done to Erica, Jodie Foster gives one of the best performances of her career." Joshua Tyler CINEMABLEND "The Brave One has opened the fall movie season with a bang, indeed with a lot of bang, bang, bangs. Don’t miss it." Andrew Sarris NEW YORK OBSERVER "Jordan's most interesting film since The Butcher Boy." Eugene Novikov FILM BLATHER "A bold and powerful thriller." Rebecca Murray ABOUT.COM "I think The Brave One could have been a better film with a different ending, but it’s still a well-crafted, thought-provoking story with outstanding performances." Richard Roeper EBERT & ROEPER "Director Neil Jordan presents a faintly ludicrous vision of Manhattan as a crime-ridden hellhole, while Foster keeps us gripped with a convincing display of steely determination and moral ambiguity." Neil Smith THELONDONPAPER "The Brave One is Death Wish with a guilty conscience, and while it may be a bit of a hypocrite as vigilante thrillers go, the internal contradictions of the thing make for a very interesting picture." Michael Phillips CHICAGO TRIBUNE

"You don't take this journey for the bends in the road, but the fleeting sights along the way make it memorably rewarding." Jeffrey Overstreet LOOKING CLOSER "The Brave One is as bold a movie as we are likely to see this year, a movie that has more in common with 1970s provocations like Straw Dogs and Taxi Driver." Terry Lawson DETROIT FREE PRESS "one of the most compelling and flat-out exciting revenge thrillers to come along in quite some time." David Nusair REEL FILM REVIEWS "Worth watching for Foster's fiercely arresting performance." Lou Lumenick NEW YORK POST "It is tough and challenging and twists and turns in ways that are not expected or obvious or easy." David Poland HOT BUTTON "Led by Jodie Foster, The Brave One is an adult Hollywood thriller a notch above most vigilante movies. Powerful and provocative, it will keep you thinking long after you've left the cinema." James Mottram CHANNEL 4 FILM "Both viewers and the characters onscreen must deal with the fact that we like when criminals get what's coming to them, regardless of who's pulling the trigger." Matt Pais METROMIX

The Inside Story "I think we all have these ideas that there are lines that we would never cross and people we could never be," says the executive producer and star if "The Brave One" Jodie Foster. "And yet, you don’t know who you would become in a certain circumstance. You might assume, intellectually, what your ethics might be, but until you are forced into a situation that challenges you, that changes you, you can’t know who you would be." Director Neil Jordan agrees that the film "poses some uneasy moral questions. I think when we are wronged, a part of us would love to react with a kind of primitive brutality so we could right it immediately. But we don’t because civilization teaches us not to do that. So the spectacle of seeing somebody descending into a morally questionable area is both horrifying and fascinating at the same time." When the script for "The Brave One" first came to producers Joel Silver and Susan Downey, it had all the hallmarks of a vigilante action genre film, with one important distinction: the vigilante was a woman. "When we read the script, we liked that it was a hard-edged action picture but was about something bigger," Silver remarked. "It was thrilling and suspenseful, and it also had a very dark, emotional story about a woman who suffers a terrible tragedy. Erica Bain is attacked and beaten and her fiancé is killed. Physically she comes back to health, but her life is completely changed. She has to reach into herself to find a way through, and she does; but the way she does is what set the story apart for us. In order for her to survive, she has to find the courage to overcome the fear and take back her life in whatever way she can." Downey revealed that the "original screenplay for "The Brave One" was by a father and son writing team, Roderick and Bruce Taylor. It hit every mark you want a genre piece to hit, but with a woman in the central role, it brought something different to the concept of a vigilante movie. Then, as the script evolved, we brought on Cynthia Mort to add a female voice to the writing team. Since the story is essentially Erica’s journey, it was important to understand from a woman’s point of view why and how she would choose to act, and what the aftereffects would be." Foster agrees noting "The second you put a woman in a role like this, you have to ask different questions because her actions are so uncharacteristic. Generally speaking, women don’t kill people they don’t know; they don’t kill randomly, which I think makes the path Erica takes all the more interesting. It was interesting to explore her inner turmoil, her confusion. She doesn’t exactly know what she is doing or why she’s doing it, but at the same time, she almost marvels at her actions. What she does understand is that fear has turned her into somebody unrecognizable and, in turn, caused her to assume the mantle of a killer." With Foster in the role of Erica Bain, the character underwent some changes from the original script in which she had been a newspaper reporter. "Jodie came on board with the idea of her being a radio personality, which lent itself to the concept of having voiceovers to help understand Erica’s mindset and her feeling about what she was doing," Downey said. "You’re always a little hesitant to use voiceovers in a movie, but her occupation makes it feel completely organic to who she is as a character." Foster (Annabel Andrews in "Freaky Friday") says, "it made sense to me, and I think it really informs the movie. Erica is somebody who lives in her head. Everything is expressed through her voice so it’s easy for her not to have a sense of her own body. In some ways, her fiancé was her physical identity, so when he is gone, it’s as if she doesn’t have a body anymore. She becomes a voice in the night, almost like a ghost, and the interior voice that we get to hear gives us a glimpse into her soul." "Jodie and I agreed that her character would be a bit sound-obsessed. She travels around the city recording the sounds of the subway and the traffic and the hum of machinery as a way of telling stories of the city," says the director of "The Company of Wolves" (1984) Neil Jordan. "Later that obsession evolves into a different, far more brutal, obsession with the streets." Jordan came onboard Foster's suggestion. "Joel and I have been huge fans of Neil’s work for a long time. Obviously, he’s an incredible filmmaker and he is known for exploring complex, sometimes dangerous topics in a compelling way, so we both thought it was an amazing idea," Downey says. "We sat down with Neil and talked about the script and our ideas for where the movie should go, and we were very much on the same page," Silver says "He had a great sense of the characters and brought so much to the development of the story. He’s just a great talent." What was it that attracted Jordan to the role? "I like characters who are confronted by things that lay between darkness and light, characters who have to cross moral boundaries. When I read the script the first time, I found it to be so compelling. Then I reread it several times, and each time I found something new. One of the most fascinating things was that it had a woman in what is normally a male preserve, and picturing Jodie as that character made it doubly so. The thought of working with her in this role just added to my compulsion, but even that was just part of the attraction. There were so many things in the mix." In "The Brave One", what Jordan refers to as the 'legal' response to injustice is represented by NYPD Detective Sean Mercer played by the star of "Hustle & Flow" and 2006 Image Award winner (Crash") Terrence Howard. "Terrence blew me away in this role," Jordan stated. "He has that physical grace and presence and his face radiates with emotions, spoken and unspoken. He brought an enormously strong emotional and moral core to Mercer." "Mercer is a by the book cop who believes in the system, but at the same time he’s becoming frustrated because the system doesn’t always allow him to protect people the way he wants to. Part of him is truly upset that his hands are tied by this moral dilemma that we call justice. And then somebody, seeking their own justice, comes up with their own solution that is certainly more expedient," Howard says. The relationship between the two characters is about what is lost and what they gain from each other. "Each of them has a fascination for the other," says Foster. "I think they are attracted to each other’s hearts, in some ways because they are opposites and in some ways because they are exactly the same." Both stars engaged in research that was as individual as their roles. Foster spent time at a local NPR radio station in Los Angeles "just to see what they do. Watching them, what occurred to me is they are not faces, they are not bodies. They are just voices. You listen to these beautiful, melodic voices, and it gets inside your ears and inside your head. I also looked into post-traumatic stress syndrome. I read a great deal about it, but I think Erica is very different. She didn’t get the help she needed." To prepare for his role, Howard worked closely with the film’s technical consultant, Neal Carter. After twenty four years with the NYPD, including time as a homicide detective, Carter recently embarked on a new career, ensuring that the depiction of police work on the big screen is grounded in reality. In fact, his first film had been "Inside Man" which starred Denzel Washington and Jodie Foster. "He was so knowledgeable and so willing to share his expertise," Howard says. "He gave us such great insight into the mind of a cop on the job. He showed us crime scenes and literally took us through the handbook of what to look for, what’s important. The cops are there to do one thing: find out who killed him. That’s their job. It becomes a puzzle. They can’t take it personally because they see it every day, and after the third crime scene, I could understand how you become a little numb to it." Carter says that understanding was reflected in the work of both Howard and Nicky Katt ("The Limey") on the set. "They really progressed fast. They picked up on every little nuance, the subtleties in how we walk, the way we dress, the way we carry ourselves, even the way we joke. It became very natural. I mean, when I watched them, they looked like real detectives." As for Howard and Foster, I wondered how they got on. "Jodie was the first actor I’ve ever worked with who actually made me nervous," Howard revealed. "Her eyes are so true and her spirit is so honest. Our styles were completely different, though. Me, I like to come in and just make it happen. Jodie is very precise, very analytical; she knows everything about her character. I learned so much just watching her." "The wonderful thing about Terrence in the role is that he has such a depth of sensitivity and emotion and yet he’s playing this hard-edged detective who’s seen it all," Foster offered. "The Brave One" was shot in New York". "Neil took a lot of time getting to know the city. He saw it with so much love and admiration, and that’s how he wanted to depict it. It was very important to him that the story not be seen as any kind of indictment about the safety of New York City," says Silver. Jordan got a crash course on New York City from executive producer Herbert Gains and production designer Kristi Zea. Zea recalls that she and Jordan drove all over the city and its outskirts, "looking at different neighborhoods and getting a response from Neil as to what he liked and didn’t like." The camera work of 1993 Academy Award winning D.O.P Philippe Rousselot ("A River Runs Through It") is exceptional. "We"ve worked together before,"says Jordan. "I knew we could work out the most elaborate and complex setups and he could deliver them." Synopsis

For Erica Bain, the streets of New York are both her home and her livelihood. She shares the sounds and the stories of her beloved city with her radio audience as the host of the show "Street Walk." At night, she goes home to the love of her life, her fiance David Kirmani. But everything Erica knows and loves is ripped from her on one terrible night when she and David are ambushed in a random, vicious attack that leaves David dead and Erica close to it. Though Erica's broken body heals, deeper wounds remain. The devastation of losing David and, even more overwhelming, a suffocating fear that haunts her every step. The city streets she had once loved to roam, even places that had been warm and familiar, now feel strange and threatening. When the fear finally becomes too much to bear, Erica makes a fateful decision to arm herself against it. The gun in her hand becomes a tangible way to protect herself from an intangible enemy, or so she thinks. Her world changes when she kills her first lawbreaker.

The Verdict "Jodie Foster roars back into the public eye with this entertaining, thriller drama about a woman who loses all confidence in her environment after her husband to be is brutally beaten to death and she is left fighting for her life. Struggling to find herself she buys a 9mm pistol for protection and through circumstances becomes a viglante. The acting is exceptional and Neil Jordan's direction ensures the mood and pace of the film is maintained through to the end. At nearly fourty five years of age, you wouldn't expect Foster to take on such a role, but she has and she pulls it off. Whether it's right or wrong, audiences love to see criminals and thugs get their just deserts at the end of a gun, so if you enjoyed Bronson in "Death Wish" and Eastwood as Inspector Harry Callahan you'll find this well worth investing your cinema time in. Terrence Howard ("Crash") co-stars in this value for money film. Recommended. 4 STARS." Cast & Crew Bytes "THE BRAVE ONE" stars .......
Two time Academy Award winner Jodie Foster ["The Accused", "The Silence of the Lambs", "Contact", "Panic Room", "Flightplan" and "Inside Man"]; Nicky Katt ["Sin City", "World Trade Centre", "Grindhouse" and "Death Proof"]; Naveen Andrews ["Mighty Joe Young", "Bride & Prejudice" and "Grindhouse"]; 1981 Academy Award winner Mary Steenburgen ["Melvin and Howard", "Life as a House", "I Am Sam" and "Elf"]; Ene Oloja ["The Riddle", "Soweto" and "The Proof"]; Luis Da Silva Jr ["The Brave One"]; Blaze Foster ["The Speed of Life"] and 2005 Black Movie Awards winner Terrence Howard ["Mr Holland's Opus", "Hart's War", "Ray" and "Hustle & Flow"] as Detective Mercer.
"THE BRAVE ONE" was .......
directed by Neil Jordan ["The Crying Game", "The Butcher Boy", "The Good Thief" and "Breakfast on Pluto"]; story by Roderick Taylor ["The Star Chamber", "American Outlaws" and "Open Graves"] and Bruce A Taylor ["Instant Karma" and "Open Graves"]; costume design by Catherine Marie Thomas ["Tape", "Sidewalks of New York", "Kill Bill Vol 1 & 2" and "A Prairie Home Companion"]; production design by 1998 Golden Satellite Award winner Kristi Zea ["The Silence of the Lambs", "As Good as It Gets", "Red Dragon" and "The Departed"]; edited by Tony Lawson ["Michael Collins", "The Butcher Boy", "The Good Thief" and "Breakfast on Pluto"]; director of photography Philippe Rousselot ["The People vs Larry Flynt", "Antwone Fisher", "Big Fish" and "Constantine"]; original music by Dario Marianelli ["I Capture the Castle", "Pride and Prejudice" and "The Brothers Grimm"]; produced by Susan Downey ["House of Wax", "Kiss Kiss Bang Bang" and "The Reaping"] and Joel Silver ["Lethal Weapon", "Die Hard", "Gothika" and "Kiss Kiss Bang Bang"]. Who's Who?

Jodie Foster Terrence Howard Nicky Katt Naveen Andrews Mary Steenburgen Ene Oloja Luis Da Silva Jr Blaze Foster Rafael Sardina Jane Adams Gordon MacDonald Zöe Kravitz John Magaro Victor Colicchio Jermel Howard Dennis L.A. White

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Erica Bain Detective Mercer Detective Vitale David Kirmani Carol Josai Lee Cash Reed Nicole Murrow Chloe Ethan Cutler Thug on Subway #1 Thug on Subway #2

Run Time 117 minutes Rated MA15+ [AUST] Copyright ©2007 - Warner Bros - All Rights Reserved ©2007 All Rights Reserved - The Movie Pages & Impact Internet Services - Protected by Australian & International Copyright. Trademark Laws Apply.