The Brave One

Cathartic... This movie is cathartic.

When my sister was first starting her writing career, a good friend told her that most crime-type stories work best if there is a good reason for the reader/audience to feel a need to be avenged. The villain has to be really villainous and when he/she is punished, the reader/audience should get a warm glow.

Jodie Foster ("Maverick" and "The Accused") is terrific as the victim of a horrific beating in a New York park, in which her fiancé, played by Naveen Andrews ("The English Patient" and "Bride and Prejudice") is beaten to death. After being released from the hospital, she is so fearful she doesn't dare leave her apartment. Because she is a local radio personality, she wants to get back on the air but the entire concept of her radio show ("Sounds of the City") has changed because now SHE has changed.

Terrence Howard ("Crash" and "Pride") is a detective who is pulled into an investigation of what appears to be some sort of vigilante activity. The dead men all seem to "deserve it." Local New Yorkers are all for it and whoever is doing this is accumulating quite a vocal fan club.

The script makes the characters very accessible, the preview audience laughed with delight each time a New York-type witty exchange took place...and that was fairly often.

The bad guys are really bad, but the good guys are kinda bad, too. And a neat turn of events near the end had the audience applauding. No CGI, no car chases, no blowie uppie stuff. Gun shots, though...

I liked it.