Two weekends ago, I dragged my friends to see the Will Arnet/Will Forte comedy The Brothers Solomon, which was, disappointingly, one of the single worst movies I’ve ever seen in my life. This past weekend, I dragged my same 2 pals to go see the new Jodie Foster film, The Brave One, and though the disappointment was nothing like what I had felt the week before, I was less than happy with my experience at the cinema.
The strongest positive about the film is Neil Jordan’s direction. Though he goes a little overboard on the dutch tilts, his wonderfully compelling shot selection and composition are the most important contribution to the film’s overall dark tone and say more about Foster’s inner anguish than Foster’s acting does. My favorite sequence was a series of helicopter shots at the end of the film, as Foster’s Erica runs through a maze of New York city streets. Very compelling stuff.
Foster’s acting is good, as usually, but its pretty boring. We’ve seen Foster play this whole “sweet girl hardened by a tough life” thing ten times before. She’s not covering any new ground here, and frankly, her performance is nothing exciting and is fairly run-of-the-mill. Similarly, Terrance Howard is fine, but his role leaves much to be desired. I believe the key word here should be “un-compelling.” Foster and Howard are both satisfactory, but they don’t do much to capture our hearts or imaginations. Very standard stuff here.
I’d say the biggest problem with the film is the screenplay. This is really a chick drama dressed up like a thriller. There are some intense scenes of violence, but they aren’t very suspenseful because the film’s aim seems to be high emotional drama, not to evoke the visceral tension usually associated with a good thriller. The film is full of cliched moments and other than the closing scene, is wholly predictable in all regards.
Most importantly, even with its focus on the dramatic and emotional, the movie just isn’ t that dramatic or emotional. We’ve seen this story a thousand times. It’s like Batman Begins except instead of a sweet superhero with gadgets and a Batmobile, we have Jodie Foster with a boy haircut, a small pistol and sneakers. Sound like a good movie to you?
I’ll bottom line it for you: Not a horrible movie, and not without its artistry, but definietly not something you need to rush out to see. Save it for a rainy day, or better yet, save it for DVD. I give it a C+.
