The Brave One (2007)

I suppose I should have guessed that the majority of movies I’d be reviewing for a blog about movies bellow $20 would feature movies that were not the best Hollywood had to offer. I’m hoping that the next movie I review will be a diamond in the rough. Although considering it’s an Uwe Boll movie I kind of doubt it.

Anyway, the movie that I am reviewing right now is The Brave One, which stars an honest to goodness a-list celebrity. Which in no way saves this movie from being a chore to watch. Which is a shame since the cinematography is actually pretty good and the ending does take a left turn that, although makes no sense, at least takes a bit of a different direction than most revenge pics. The movie looks good and at least from my inexpert eye was edited quite well.

The movie is about Erica Bain, a radio host, who must survive after she is beaten and her fiancé killed by a gang of thugs. After she buys an illegal gun she begins to enact her own sense of justice after an uncaring system fails to bring the men who committed this act to heel. Detective Mercer is caught between his sense of duty and justice as he investigates her string of bloody murders. The come-out-of-nowhere ending makes absolutely no sense, and side steps the question of justice vs. vengeance that this movie should have answered.

The characters are worse than one-dimensional and never step outside their pre-ordained archetypes. You’ve got your embittered detective, slimy lawyer, steely female protagonist who finds a strength she never thought she had… through murder and of course an uncaring system that no longer cares about the citizens it is suppose to represent. It’s just so played out and boring. I’ve seen this before and I’m just not that interested in seeing characters I have already met in a story that just does not work. It’s also telling that everyone who gets shot in this movie is a minority… even the good guys.

There are some nice moments and the movie does look great. I especially liked the juxtaposition of violence and sex, which is a motif that repeats throughout the movie. Other than that, I can’t say this was all that good or even cathartic. I’m not a huge fan of The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, but at least it had the balls to show an honest portrayal of vengeance.

I got this movie for $6.99 as part of a 3 for 1 deal at IGA.