I just finished re-reading Lisa Schwarzbaum’s C+ reviewof The Brave One, and 90 percent of me couldn’t agree with her more — from herpraise of Nicky Katt’s "invigorating" supporting work as "thecity’s only reliably contemporary, unanguished cop" to her complaint that"there’s a progressively alienating deficiency of logic in the provocativeenterprise, a diminishing return as the subsequent kills pile up." Andyet…well, I don’t want to spoil anything for those of you who haven’t seem themovie yet, so let’s continue this conversation after the jump.
So as much as The Brave One didn’t meet my Oscar-baitexpectations, I have to admit: I kind of loved the movie’s completely ludicrousending. When Terrence Howard’s straight-laced Det. Mercer hands over the gun toFoster’s character, and then watches as she screeches at the vicious thug onthe floor to "shut the f*** up" before blowing his face off, I experienced a surprising wave of delight.Maybe because, at that point, the movie had devolved into pure vigilantefantasy, and was merely reaching its natural conclusion. I mean, I don’t pauseto worry about the moral implications of what’s happening on the screen whenArnie mows down a row of baddies in Commando, so why can’t Jodie Foster get thesame free pass? I’m just wondering if anyone else had a similar reaction, or ifyou couldn’t suspend your disbelief enough to buy The Brave One’s thoroughlyimplausible conclusion. Holla!
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It had me up until the ending. LAME-O! Even getting caught, blowing the man’s face off would be fine. I was waiting for Howard’s character to say ‘you know i’m gonna have to take you in.’ Jodie’s character saying, ‘yes, i know.’ Camera angle from behind of Jodie in handcuffs, Terrence holding her arm…perfect. She gets revenge but there are realistic consequences. Blah blah, it would have been great.
I think the hype of it being “Oscar” bait raised too many expectations. I’m not saying it’s the smartest film, but I enjoyed it very much despite the plot holes. I didn’t expect it to be hyperintellectual just because Jodie Foster is in it. The ending was satisfying to me, and in a way, my reaction to it kind of unnerved me in a way because it’s not the response I would have thought I would have.
No, I didn’t like the ending.
Didn’t like the beginning or middle, either. I miss the good ol’ days when Jodie Foster challenged herself by playing a DIFFERENT character in each of her movies.
I think it’s funny that Jodie Foster herself doesn’t view the movie that way. She talked about the moral implications and dehumanization of the character, etc., in an interview (I think in EW). Anyway, I don’t think Arnold Schwarzenegger ever delved into the psyches of his characters.
I really enjoyed the Brave One which is surprising because I was ready to hate it. I thought the ending was a bit of a cop out, but I think Jodie Foster really shined. She really showed vulnerability and what would make a decent person choose this route. Maybe not the Oscar caliber performance everyone was expecting, but I wouldn’t be surprised if she snagged a nomination.
Sounds as bloodthirsty and disturbing as the concept and ending of Boondock Saints. I have seen Saints, I have not seen The Brave One. Thanks, at least, for letting me know I don’t need to bother.
I didn’t really want to see this movie, but heard a lot about the ending. I’m actually grateful Slezak revealed it so now I know and don’t have to watch.
The ending was perfectly fine but really shows the movies greatest flaw in that it couldn’t decide if it was going to be a psychological examination or grief, loss and revenge or just a summer popcorn flick where jodie gets to shoot people without consequence. The movie was decent only because it could not decide which of these movies to embrace. It could have been a great psychological film or a fun popcorn flick; instead its weighted by indecision.
The ending was pretty mediocre, in my opinion. I loved Foster’s acting, but Terrance Howard was terrible and the ending was illogical and, worse, unsatisfying.
I saw it in Chicago on opening night and the whole crowd erupted into applause when she shot the guy. I found that incredibly unsettling.
The whole movie is pretty ridiculous — the cast and director were saying at TIFF that they talked about five different endings and shot that one, which is interesting. It’s the most ambiguous way they could’ve gone — there’s nothing indicating where Erica would go from there. Maybe she went home and committed suicide. Maybe once Mercer healed he would take her out. Just because she got away doesn’t mean she got away with it.
I had heard that the whole thing was in her head, so I kind of saw the movie that way. It was very implausible, and my Mom who went with me commented that Foster was in “the right place” for every killing. I still can’t decide if I liked it.
I’m embarrassed to say that I loved the ending. It satisfied all of my basest needs. It was pizza and ice cream sprinkled with crack. They COULD have given it a thoughtful ending that commented on the human condition, the ultimate pointless of revenge, the blurry line between right and wrong and the importance of perspective behing characters’ actions. It would have been a better movie. But instead, I think to myself, “I want my DOG BACK! BLAMMO!” and I can’t help but smile. I am so ashamed.
I liked the movie well enough but I was one of those who wanted consequences. I was more disturbed by the audience around me. They cheered every time she killed, except when she killed white people. Then there was an eerie silence. Never going back to that theater…
The ending … implausible? Yes. Satisfying? Heck yeah. Did everyone see how her character gets almost beaten to death and her boyfriend dies protecting her? Her rage was justified, though I can’t really see Jodie taking anyone down with a tire iron, the whole bang bang theory worked for me.
I’m not ashamed to say I loved the movie. What I thought was interesting is that people are ashamed to admit that they understand waht the character is going through. I went to a screening on the Warner Bros lot with a bunch of industry elite. People were very quiet during throughout the movie and you could feel the tension that these liberal types were feeling about the movie’s theme. But during that one shooting that has been mentioned before, the audience erupted in applause. By the end of the film, everyone applauded, as if giving into the fact that yeah, vigilante justice may be wrong, but the desire for it is natural.
I don’t think it’s fair to compare The Brave One with Commando.
Arnold’s movies were never marketed as anything more than low-brow, action-adventure, testoterone-filled movies. The Brave One on the other hand was portrayed by Foster as a movie that will make you think about who you really are and what you would do under these circumstances. In her inteviews she overly-intellectualized the subject matter of the movie, which would have been fine if the movie actually lined up with what she was saying.
Like someone else said the movie couldn’t decide what it wanted to be.
And as far as the ending, I’m assuming Mercer let her go b/c he had fallen in love with her and he couldn’t bring himself to punish her. I mean if you go through all that trouble to cover for someone…isn’t that love? Or stupidity? Just a theory.
I was yelling at the screen by the time we got around to the end…and, in fact, part of me expected the ending to be the coffee shop.
There was *something* missing…either Foster’s character needed to be more ‘off’ more of the time or we needed to see her devolve a bit more. No PTSD after the shootings was bs (unless you counted her liking the dark.
But of course, the reality for me was lost when Foster’s arm was just cut, not FRAK’N broken from the tire iron. After that, we were doomed. Or how she got that guy over the railing. Or the fact the dog is at first terrified of her, but then remembers her (after she leaves it behind).
It takes a secondary character to spell out the story though…that anyone can become a killer under the right circumstances- which was almost painful to have to have it be that blatent.
How would the movie had been different if this were based on experiences of war/mass genocide? Would we have given the character an easier time?
The ending nearly sabotaged the whole movie for me. It was absolutely ludicrous for so many reasons — as was the fact that around every corner was a new situation for her to take into her own hands.
Violent, violent, violent….and loud. And unreal. But there is a whole generation of people that don’t know first hand what personal/mass violence does to people. I would love to see the generational breakdown of how older (WWII+) or military types saw this versus white bread joe…
There were VERY funny parts of the movie…but, somehow, the contrast between funny/serious was too harsh for good flow….or maybe that was another way the director was trying to show how quickly things change.
Christ on a Cracker? Stellar.
After a career in law enforcement (on the street, So Calif) it is real obvious that if you wish to defend yourself, you must take action yourself. 99.5% of the time, Police take useless reports, that are no good to you. No good, because you are probably dead.
I acutally enjoyed the movie –and I think if the ending had gone any different I would have been dissapointed–anyone who has experienced violence in their life will tell you that it takes years to re-build their life, and what Jodie Foster character does in the movie is what all of us who experienced violence wants to do but never have the courage or the chance to do it– if all of you looked deep inside and really thought about what would you have done if this was done to you–you would have done the same and got your dog back—by the way this was the best line in the movie…Thank you Jodie for another strong movie…can’t wait until the next one.
The movie kind of lagged slightly 3/4 of the way through, and I have to say I kind of dozed for a few minutes after she interviewed the prostitute. But I thought the concept was interesting, because men are ususally the vigilantes after something happens to their delicate-little-flower-type women. I really felt Erica’s pain when she realized they had already had the service for her fiance and she would never see him again. I loved Terrence Howard’s character- who was the opposite of the usual macho movie cop but still was dedicated to his job. And frankly, I loved the fact that she got her dog back. So when I got home from viewing it with my girlfriends, I hugged my dog, climbed into bed with my husband, and counted my blessings.
This is what they were trying to achieve with the ending. Modern tragedy has the rule that the hero must suffer the consequences of his actions. Most of the time, this is represented by death, the hero dying. Then the audience can be released from feelings of complicity in the character’s actions. But “The Brave One” does not have this ending and does not give the audience a way out of their moral ambivalence. Ericka is free from the law at movie’s end, but she is damned because she has lost her humanity. All throughout the third act, the person she was before was begging Det. Mercer to bring her in, without actually confessing. Now that he has condoned her actions, the moral part of her, raised in society, vanishes completely. She indeed completes the transformation into a total stranger This is not meant to be a happy or satisfying ending but a very sad one.
She indeed completes the transformation into a total stranger This is not meant to be a happy or satisfying ending but a very sad one.
Alex, yes: I agree completely. Very sad movie.
The ending was dreadful, not so much because of what she became but because of what Terrence Howard became. When he said she had one more person to shoot, I thought he meant herself — because she had crossed a line and was no longer fit to live in society. But no, he became her enabler. It undercut everything the movie was pretending to do, proving they wanted it both ways.
i think the movie had to end the way it did, mainly because it was so unexpected. i just knew that at the end jodie would have to pay for her vigilante stream of deaths, or that her friend, the cop would be forced to shoot her. but nope, none of that happened and i’m glad because that would have been a politically correct copout to me. kudos to jodie for once again taking the road less traveled.
The ending made the movie absolutely, completely awful, and I don’t say that lightly. They presented a morally complex theme and treated it realistically – this isn’t Rambo or Die Hard – and then threw it all away for the most blatantly morally wrong ending possible. It was absurd and completely ruined their own intentions.
For me, what completely strained believability about the ending was that Foster’s character left the scene of her shoot-out without her dog. Your average pet owner/lover would never do this – - let alone a person who has lost everything else that she loved in the world. If I lost my fiance and felt completely alone and empty, I would fight to the death for a beloved pet – - not walk away without a second thought for the animal’s safety. Especially when the climactic line of dialogue is “I want my dog back.” Obviously, the screenwriter has never had a pet.
I would have enjoyed this movie much better had they not used the word “brave” in the title. Am I wrong? Where in the movie was bravery portrayed? Bravery involves protecting others with disregard to your own personal wellbeing. Bravery is admitting your wrongdoings then accepting your repercussions, not seeking selfish revenge with anger and a gun. This movie really upset me. When the movie was finished and half the audience was cheering, I could only think about our soldiers in Iraq, the fireman and policeman at 9-11, and anyone who has stood up for what is right and been called a hero. The cheers were pure disrespect to all of those individuals. The word “brave” should not be used lightly.
Best ending ever – thank you for the twist – I was afraid they’d have her wimp out and turn herself in or he’d just arrest her…and her dog returning to her at precisely the point where the incident occured in the beginning of the story made a perfect circle. YES! I love vigilante movies!