The Brave One
by Catherine Lee

       When it comes to New York City IÕm a sentimental fool. In The Brave One, the new vigilante revenge thriller directed by Neil Jordan, Jodie FosterÕs character begins the film as a sentimental fool for New York City. Foster plays Erica Bain, a public radio commentator who has a show devoted to the sounds and stories of New York City. When she mourns the changes at the Plaza, no longer a place where you can stop in and have an insanely overpriced cup of tea and gaze at the portrait of Eloise, the PlazaÕs most famous imaginary resident, I was with her. Is New York still New York without Kay ThompsonÕs impish character playing make believe and planning to pour water down the mail chute?

       Erica Bain is nostalgic for lots of places, characters and ideas that she feels are disappearing from the city she loves. I share her pain. Will the 2nd Avenue Deli be the same if and when it reopens in midtown? No. The Brave One is nostalgic for something else that is disappearing from New York – random, extremely violent crime.

       One night Erica and her fiance David (Naveen Andrews) are walking their dog in Central Park. They are so wrapped up in each other and wedding plans, they are oblivious to their surroundings. Their dog wanders off, and when they find him he is being held by some thugs. David and Erica are brutally beaten and the dog is stolen. David dies and Erica wakes up weeks later, still in very bad shape physically. SheÕs also consumed by fear and grief and a sense of powerlessness. The cure is a gun. Shortly after buying a gun sheÕs in a convenience store very late and witnesses a man kill the woman at the cash register, who also happens to be his estranged wife. The man hears EricaÕs cell phone ring, and heÕs threatening to kill her, but she beats him to the trigger. She grabs the security tape and heads for home.

       SheÕs stunned by what sheÕs done, but as it sinks in it doesnÕt feel so bad. The gun has transformed the way she can move around the city. Exactly what she wants to feel or accomplish eludes her, but sheÕs on a mission. She continues to record the sounds of what she does. In voice-over we hear that she is changed, that sheÕs not the same person anymore. She continues her killing spree. As she grows less afraid, she almost invites trouble. Her thirst for revenge seems to increase, and she knows sheÕs losing her grip on reality. Because she leaves 9mm shell casings everywhere she goes, the police are on her trail. Except they are looking for a man.

       Terence Howard and Nicky Katt play detectives Mercer and Vitale. The cop banter in The Brave One is excellent, and these two actors are great together. Even better is the relationship between Howard and Foster. Detective Mercer is recently divorced and suffering a loneliness that strikes a chord with Erica. Also, heÕs a fan of her show. He knows about the crime she has survived. He saw her in a coma at the hospital. These two become friends, of sorts. There is real chemistry between them. She interviews him for her show, and they exchange views on justice and the frustrations of bad guys getting away with all sorts of crimes. But Detective Mercer is no dummy, and he starts to figure out that Erica isnÕt quite what she seems. He keeps working on her case, in part to help her and because it is his job, but also to draw her out.

       The Brave One builds to an alarmingly satisfying conclusion. In less capable hands, with less talented actors, The Brave One would show all the empty, bare spots that are hiding just below the shiny surfaces. But despite a dependence on a violent New York City that hasnÕt existed since Taxi Driver days, some lousy reasoning and the magnificently deserving bad guys, The Brave One is entertaining and engrossing from start to finish. The Brave One is full of great actors (Mary Steenburgen and Jane Adams have small parts as colleagues and friends of Erica), and I could heap more praise on Howard. But occupying the center and holding the picture together is Foster. She is amazing. She is convincing in every scene, and makes the wide variety of EricaÕs experience believable.

       Foster has played so many tough characters lately that it is a shock to see her blissfully in love at the beginning of The Brave One. And when trouble comes, she gets tough and she gets sly. She is brutal and vulnerable at the same time. There are moments in The Brave One where she looks like a teenage boy. There are moments when she looks just like her own teenage self. She is an iconic figure, and she just looks great. In one hilarious scene a goof of a teenage boy who saw her just before committing a crime is trying to describe her to a sketch artist. HeÕs supposed to talk about her face, but he keeps drifting off talking about her body, trying to explain why sheÕs so hot.

       The Brave One wants us to believe that even a nice woman who loves New York so much and feels so safe in her beloved city that she doesnÕt use the instincts all New Yorkers develop can turn into a gun-toting, violence-seeking vigilante if properly provoked. Goodness knows the provocation in The Brave One is extreme, but I hope and believe this is only true in fiction. Eloise is the prototypical feisty fictional New York girl. Could Eloise grow up to be a shooter? Maybe. ÒA kleenex box makes an excellent hat.Ó ThatÕs a typical Eloise sentiment. I hope that mischievous character couldnÕt be transformed into a killing machine. I hope Foster soon makes a film that connects more with the playful instincts we all share. In the meantime, The Brave One is as delicious a guilty pleasure as tea at the Plaza used to be.

       Catherine Lee is the executive director of Fort Wayne Cinema Center, the only independently operated movie theater in Fort Wayne, specializing in independent, foreign, documentary, specialty and classic films.

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