I like to admit my prejudices right up front. I like Jodie Foster a lot. I like almost any movie she is in and I think for the most part she picks good, intriguing roles that offer her something new and different.
The Brave One stars Foster as Erica, a radio essayist, the kind you find on NPR, with modulated tones and deep thoughts, mostly about the city she loves and lives in, New York. She is engaged to a doctor and they seem very happy. But then her world is shattered as they are mugged and he is beaten to death, and she close to death.
What follows is a descent into the psychology of a victim. She feels unsafe as she ventures outside, everyone walking near her seems a menace. So she buys an illegal handgun...and we feel that she is justified.
She then almost becomes a victim of another violent crime, and starts to defend herself, this time by shooting and killing her would be assailant. Again, self-defense. But she starts trying to find the bad people, and her descent into victim hood turns into vigilantism.
Terrance Howard co-stars as a police detective who knows Erica and becomes tacitly aware of what she is doing...and giving his tacit approval. Both characters leave much unsaid, but the impression conveyed is this understanding...he knows, she knows he knows...and both actors pull it off very well.
I can understand Erica's behavior, and I think most people watching this can. Faced with a police bureaucracy that does little to actually help (some great scenes addressing this)or make victims feel comforted, faced with fear and violence around her, Erica's choices seem justified.
What the film ultimately does not answer very well is whether those actions are actually justified or not...we do not see enough of the aftermath to judge that, and I wish it had explored that theme a bit more.
Even given that, I think this is a very good movie, and Foster and Howard do a great job.
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