The Brave One (2008)

Widescreen Edition DVD

Alright, I remember seeing commercials for this movie when it first came out, and thought to myself, now THAT looks like an awesome film, and one that I need to get my hands on! So I finally convinced my Mom to spend some money and get it on Pay-Per-View(Thanks MovieBuff123, it was early. XD), and I had school that day, too. So we had saved it on our DVR. Come to find out, that as soon as it rolled, she couldn't look away and watched the entire thing before I could. It's just that good of a movie! I sat watching this movie and was absolutely blown away. This movie made me realize how much I loved Jodie Foster as well, and such a movie from her it is! It's one that we can all agree was awesome, and it's heart wrenching storyline was one worth remembering forever and ever, amen! The movies got so much charisma and action that it's got to be my all time favorite crime related movie and should stay as such, meaning, NO SEQUELS PLEASE. I don't see how they'd do a sequel anyhow. Just an awesome movie, and I'm dedicating this review to making you realize how awesome this movie is.

The director of this film is Neil Jordan, whom I relatively recognize by name, which is an actual step forward for me because unless they're huge directors(i.e. Guillermo Del Toro, Steven Spielberg, George Lucas, etc. etc.) I don't usually recognize them. The reason why I recognize Neil Jordan? Well, he directed Interview with the Vampire, of course, and many of you know how much I like that film! Anyhow, his visions for the development of this film were spectacular and he gives us one excellent and intense film. The writers of this movie are plenty in and of themselves(Roderick Taylor, Bruce A. Taylor, and Cynthia Mort give us the Screenplay. Roderick Taylor and Bruce A. Taylor give us the storyline.). They all do a wonderful job with the story, and give us a movie that together with the awesome directing is action-packed, thrilling, and a real heart-wrenching, tear-jerker. The directing and writing of this movie were definitely done by people who knew what they were doing, and how to make an awesome film.

The visuals in this movie aren't really anything to mention, since it's a movie that's based off of reality and such, but there are a few things that i think I could mention for the benefit of the fact that I always mention it anyhow. I liked how they made the wounds look while Erica was all bashed in and bruised at the hospital. It looked incredibly realistic and believable, and for some of the movies like this one, that's a hard thing to do. However, this one uses all the elements of such a thing, and brings together an awesome visual movie in terms of blood and shooting. Another thing that looked real was Erica's reaction every time that she used her gun. It was a look of control, like, she needed to get the gun under control, but it still sort of bucked in her hand. I also liked all of the angles and such that the movie used for things. It added some interesting views in the different shooting scenes as well as the scenes where Erica seems to be losing her mind. So what visuals the movie had were definitely pretty good.

The storyline of this song is incredibly original. It's also one that is easily gotten into because it holds so much drama, action, and thrills that it's just, I struggle to find the words really, it's amazing. That about sums it up. I know a lot of people didn't care for this movie, and as for this fact, I can't understand. It was such an awesome movie, and I struggle to also understand why this is. It was such an incredible and awesome movie, and I can't believe there were some that didn't like it! Anyhow. The story of this movie is an awesome one, and it really captures your interest from the beginning, when Erica's broadcasting her show. She makes really interesting points in that show, too, as you'll come to find out whilst watching the movie. Anyhow, this movie is about a woman and her boyfriend, who get attacked in Central Park. The woman is barely left alive, but the boyfriend is bludgeoned to death, and their dog is taken away. Now the woman is fully recovered, and has gotten a gun to make her feel safer, but the thing is, she's become a vigilante, out for justice. The movie, like I said, is just great, ad does an awesome job of capturing your attention.

Starring in the lead of this film is Jodie Foster, and her character is Erica Bain. Erica Bain is a very famous woman in New York, hosting a Radio show called "I walk the streets" and she seems to have everything she wants. Relatively large amount of money, and the man that she loves most in the world, David. They are about to be married, she wants to go wit the big and formal wedding, while he just wants to elope, but all their plans are about to come crashing down around them, as they take a walk through Central Park in New York with their Dog. Soon, this trip turns to shit as their dog doesn't return to them when they throw him the ball, and so they go looking for him, but when they find him, they run into a group of drunken thugs, and these thugs attack and bludgeon Erica and David. By the time Erica gets to the Hospital she is nearly dead, but her fiance, David, didn't make it, for he was savagely beaten with a pipe. Now Erica has fully recovered and is walking the streets again, but now, she's got a gun, and she's not hesitant to use it. Throughout the movie it seems that Erica is thrust into many situations that involve her being nearly killed, but instead, she pulls the vigilante move, killing them before they can kill her. Now her one true friend, a detective by the name of Mercer, is also the one looking for her because she is the Vigilante. Jodie Foster has got to be one of my all time favorite actresses and this movie helps that opinion even more because Foster gets all of this characters emotions, her pains, and her anguish out and make it all so realistic, that you feel for the character, and even sort of relate to how she's feeling. Jodie Foster delivers a memorably believable and convincing performance, and this just proves that she was definitely a great casting choice for this role.

Starring in this movie as Detective Mercer is Terrence Howard, whom many remember from one of this years biggest movies, Iron Man. Detective Mercer is a man who is still going through a tough marriage and trying to cope with everything around it. The reason for this divorce is because he cannot let go the one man who is nearly impossible to put away. This man does all the hateful things. Imports illegal drugs, illegal guns and other weapons, and illegal immigrants, to be sold for work and slavery. He beats women to the point of death, and yet his lawyers still talk him out of a sentence. He seems impossible and it's driven Mercer crazy. That's when bodies seem to be turning up around New York, bodies of people who were definitely not good people, and now they have a Vigilante on the loose. What's more is Mercer has grown attached to a woman whose show he used to listen to on the radio all the time. This woman, of course, is Erica Bain, and he was there at the hospital after she was nearly beaten to death, and now they've grown a tight friendship, and it seems she'll always be there for him. However, things begin to line up on the vigilante case, and Mercer becomes enrapt in another case. Terrence Howard does an excellent job in this movie, displaying this character's emotions and troubles as well as his drive for justice and what is right, really well that this character is especially realistic and easy to feel for and relate to. His performance is impeccably convincing and believable, and he was definitely another great casting choice for the movie.

Nicky Katt, an actor whom I'm not familiar with at all, stars in this film as Detective Vitale. Vitale is Mercer's assistant, and sort of like a lacky. He's got the corny cop lines like, "Christ on a Cracker," but he's still a good guy. He's there to help Mercer and he does a good job of it, even if most of the time he just seems to be in the way. He does the right thing, and he eventually comes to the conclusion that this vigilante is a thing of high priority. When they start to investigate, he notices that Erica Bain, a radio woman, whom he has never heard of, has an interest in interviewing Mercer, so he tells Mercer to do it because it'd be good for him, and when Mercer tells him that she's not the same as other reporters, that she's different, well he encourages him on all the more, making up Mercer's mind for him. As the investigation goes on, he realizes that this Vigilante is a series problem, and he immediately kicks it into high gear along with Mercer to catch the Vigilante and stop them. Nicky Katt does an excellent job with this role, getting the role of side kick down to a "T" and making the faithful friend thing incredibly realistic. He also has the characters drive, emotions, and awe down as well, making him an incredibly convincing and believable character that you could definitely feel for and relate to. He is yet another great casting choice for this movie.

All in all this was one fantastic movie, and one that if you haven't seen and aren't going to because of the bad reviews, then you need to listen to ME because this film was epic, and possibly Jodie Foster's best since The Silence of the Lambs. The directing and writing make this movie come to life, and what a story it is, for the director and all the writers do fantastically! This is only helped more by the fact that the storyline and visuals are incredible because the storyline is gripping and epic and the visuals, though not a major focus in a film such as this, help the movie along more. This film is also polished on by the fact that all of the actors in it do a fantastic job with their roles, all delivering fantastically convincing and believable performances, as well as giving us characters that we can relate to and feel for. This is definitely one of my all time favorite movies, as well as my second favorite Jodie Foster movie of all time!!!!!

OK, this is the part I'm probably going to struggle with most in these new reviews because I don't usually look at the special features of a movie, but I guess from here on out, I will. There are only two special features on this particular version of "The Brave One," but they're both very interesting to watch.

-I Walk the City:

This feature is a sort of behind-the-scenes deal that I thought was incredibly interesting, and that's probably because it WAS incredibly interesting. There were different commentaries from Jodie Foster, Terrence Howard, Neil Jordan, the Producer, the Executive Producer, the Director of Photography, and the likes, that sort of put you into the mind of the movie, and I thought it was interesting to hear how the film started out as something nearly entirely different than what it ended up as. It had Erica as a Newspaper Reporter, rather than the radio show personality, which BTW, we find out was an idea that Jodie Foster brought to the table. I also thought it was interesting how they made the city into this sort of lurking and hulking huge demon of sorts. What used to feel safe, is now completely dangerous, you know? This feature was a rather interesting thing to watch, and I'll bet anyone else who loved the film would agree, if they watch it, or if they have ALREADY watched it.

-Additional Scenes:

These're always my favorite parts of movies because it shows us something beyond what we saw in a movie that was awesome and incredible, such as this one here. There were many different scenes that they decided to dub out. The first we see is added footage to Erica Bain's first walk outside of her apartment since she returned after finally recovering from the brutal attack. Another one I found interesting was an extended scene of Detective Mercer and his Ex-Wife at the bar, you know the scene towards the beginning? Well they have some more dialogue, and we sort of get into the mindset of what's going on between these two characters, and learn what each is going through, how they long to still be friends, yet they're still annoyed at what each other does, an excellent little blurb. Another scene I liked was where Erica's friend(The name JUST escaped me) visits Erica, and brings her some groceries and flowers, and tries to convince her to leave, then taking her to a self defense class, where they both promptly scurry out of there. lolz. One more, the last one they show, is where Detective Mercer looks into Erica's case and asks that they keep him informed on anything happening in the case. It shows how much he cares about Erica now, and how much he wants her to get over the loss of her fiance, and find her justice, so that she can finally be at peace. So this was another interesting feature of the movie.

So that's all for the special features, I know, not too much, but for the one disc edition of a movie it was really interesting to see. I really enjoyed how they brought us into the movie that we love, and kind of put us into their minds as to how they were thinking whilst they created the film, and then gave us some scenes that were cut from the original product. It's not always interesting, to me anyways, these sort of things, but I guess I'm starting to like the whole, "Special Features" dealio on everything, and will most likely begin checking them out more. So if you're a person looking for some good and interesting behind-the-scenes features, then this is a good DVD for you to buy because of this effect, too! Like I said, sometimes special features are boring, and sometimes they're interesting, but with this one, it's interesting. I've always liked additional and deleted scenes the best, along with bloopers, so I was glad we got the additional scenes, and most of the time, I can't stand the whole "behind-the-scenes" deal, but with this I was surprised, and who knows? Maybe I'll begin to like the behind-the-scenes features. So yea, these features were both really interesting to watch!!!!!

All in all this is one DVD you NEED TO BUY! All the aspects that people would look for in a DVD, I've covered, and are here for your reading, and viewing pleasure! The movie itself, as you read in the "Review" section is spectacular, combining all the facets of that into one great and awesome action/thriller/crime/drama movie that you'll love to watch over and over again. I've only seen it through twice, and I haven't lessened my love for it any at all. It's one you'd want to watch over and over and over and over and over again, until your DVD is nearly dead from over use and you'd need to go buy a new one! lolz. The picture and sound quality are also done on the DVD very good making a movie that is distinct to WATCH as well as HEAR, which is good when a movie plays to your senses, well you know what I mean. I don't think we need smell-o-vision or taste-television(TTV. XD), but it's got the good qualities. The packaging helps to catch your eye, too and that's always a good thing because you don't want a DVD this awesome sitting on the shelves not being bought. The features of this version, though few, are also very interesting to watch, and will most definitely also entertain you. So yea, I'd say GO AND BUY THIS DVD, you DEFINITELY won't regret it!!!!!