Review: The Brave One

* * * 1/2

Jodie Foster, Terrence Howard, Mary Steenbugen, Naveen Andrews. Written by Roderick Taylor, Bruce A. Taylor, Cynthia Mort. Directed by Neil Jordan. 122 minutes. Rated R. Warner Brothers.

The opening scenes of Neil Jordan’s provocative The Brave One, starring a driven Jodie Foster as a New York radio host victimized by urban violence who embarks on an odyssey of vigilantism, shine with affection for Manhattan and an engaging portrait of an offbeat couple in love.

Radio host Erica Bain has two love affairs in her life—one with devoted partner and doctor David (Naveen Andrews), and another with New York City, the subject of her popular radio show, a sort of poetic, Urban Home Companion-esque look at the character of the city that makes her tick. She spends her days wandering, observing and recording sounds, until a shocking, random act of violence in Central Park leaves David dead and her dog stolen. Shattered, she withdraws to her apartment, realizing that she no longer trusts the city streets. For the first time, she has come to know fear, and crosses over a line in the sand, impulsively purchasing a gun for protection. In these opening scenes Foster descends into a near trance-like sense of dislocation, glassy eyed and absent to the world and herself, effectively etching out Erica’s closed-down, wordless resignation.

Her concerned producer (a fine Mary Steenburgen) worries that she isn’t ready to return to prime time, and soon the script places her in the line of fire, literally, with Erica unwittingly caught in a botched convenience store robbery and self-defense shooting. Shocked at her power, she is also intrigued enough to find herself once again in danger, dispatching two subway gang bangers foolish enough to suggest rape. Before long, she is out looking for the opportunity to make a twisted difference, liberating a teenaged hooker and not concerned with covering her tracks.

When police detective Mercer (Terrence Howard) is assigned to the case of the new vigilante killer that has Manhattan abuzz, intrigued Erica begins to dance around the proceedings, and the film departs to develop a fascinating friendship between cop and killer. It is here that The Brave One really delivers, with Foster and Howard creating a likable pair caught in a legal and ethical crossfire possibly trumped by their rising mutual respect for each other. It is clear to him early on that she may be implicated. It is also clear to him that he is an intrigued fan of her program, newly divorced and sympathetic to her recent loss.

Without any family or close friends, Erica begins a complex dialogue with Mercer about crime, punishment, life and death. They are very well-written and their paradox is absorbing, most notably as they interview each other for their respective jobs, talking around what they both fully know is true, and just who is doing what to whom, existing together in a sort of safety net of confidence. Foster and Howard have an original, unrequited chemistry, each character disillusioned, each understanding the other in a way no one else does. In one late gesture, she exits a restaurant, softly touching his shoulder from behind, and the effect is bittersweet.

Of course, the final reel of The Brave One gives us exactly what we want, allowing Erica to come face to face with her attackers and dispense her own brand of justice, ideologies clashing between Mercer and herself, a feral Foster delivering impressive physical and psychological depth to a no-win situation.

Foster has walked these Manhattan mean streets memorably in a past life for Scorsese in Taxi Driver, and there is a potent kick to seeing her as an aged counterpart to her indelible child hooker three decades earlier. And the actress, of late attracted to high-concept machines dressed up in gloss, with gritty moral underpinnings (Panic Room, Flightplan), here goes for broke. It is a staggering piece of acting that takes a well-made film to near-profound levels as Jordan places his camera in microscopic close-ups on the actress, who undergoes levels of intensity and probing with razor sharpness.

In one powerful scene, she delivers an on-air monologue about how fear lurks within us, dormant, changing us unexpectedly, altering our DNA, breaking from life as we knew it. She is simply incomparable in her ability to use her voce—in this case, hushed near-whispers—and piercing eyes, to draw us to her. It is a testament to her integrity and investment that we nearly feel we are seeing a familiar genre anew.

Jordan himself is certainly no slouch on these terms either and allows Foster the freedom to go straight to the edge, much as she did in The Accused, wringing herself with pathos. New York, as shot by the great Philippe Rousselot, becomes as prominent a character in this film as in any film shot there, ever. It is fascinating to see how Jordan is able to evoke how it feels to be downtown, Midtown or uptown, how the city itself at times embraces and then repels. From the gleaming bustle of Times Square to the dank, grotto-like cement confines of a scummy Spanish Harlem apartment complex (with a kicky nod to Foster stalking the dark tunnels in Silence of the Lambs), it is a film rich with eclectic, urbane atmosphere.

The Brave One only missteps with a too-convenient twist in its conclusion, efficiently blasting Foster and Howard out of the complicated corner in which the script logically sent them. Above all, the film is a crowd-pleaser with substance and ideas, and steers clear of pat moral questions about whether Erica is "right" to do as she does, instead focusing on how fear and violence irreversibly change her. It also gets considerable mileage out of a sense of post 9-11 helplessness and malaise that hangs over everything with dread and darkness.

Vigilantism is again en vogue in American film, with Kevin Bacon currently channeling Charles Bronson in Death Sentence, a solid action film embracing the tropes of the against-the-system, otherwise normal guy going Travis Bickle on sleazy skinheads, and now The Brave One, which takes the trend in a decidedly more thoughtful and contemplative direction, offering brains with bullets, thoughts as well as triggers. Whereas Death Sentence is about the joy of the kill and the skill of building an action sequence, The Brave One is trained on transformation and its breathtaking star.

-Lee Shoquist