Search - The Brave One [Blu-ray] on Blu-ray

It's okay.

Gavis | Chapel Hill, NC USA | 02/09/2008

(3 out of 5 stars)

"Its not a terrible movie but it's nothing to tell your friends about. Its full of cliches as just about any person who's seen the trailers will expect. Terrence Howard, who I consider a very talented actor, doesn't pull off the cop character all that well. His character as well most of the story line is unbelievable and inconsistent. Jodi Foster is okay.

I wanted to see this movie because, it was only 2 bucks and I like the whole vigilante idea. There problem is there were too many themes going on in this movie with no one in particular standing out or appearing original. Still some of the revenge scenes were kinda fun...

A note about the Amazon service.

Downloading was a cinch but the download manager you install seems to take up a lot of memory. The file was huge, but this is probably due to a high frame rate or something. Color looks good too. The resolution is horrendous though. I watched it on my computer screen about 5 feet away and you can see the image divided into tiny little digital blocks. This becomes really apparent when looking at diagonal lines or curves but where its the absolute worse is if there is any sort of text on the screen. It looks pixel-like and is virtually unreadable. They really need to fix that."

Bravely goes where many films have gone before but still man

Andrew Ellington | I'm kind of everywhere | 02/07/2008

(4 out of 5 stars)

"As some have mentioned, this story has been told before. It's been told plenty of times to be more exact. The lack of originality aside though, `The Brave One' still delivers on quite a few levels and manages to leave the audience satisfied. In fact I'm a little stunned at the critical beating this movie took. Some critics made this out to be so terrible that I almost stayed away entirely. I've never been a real fan of Jodie Foster and Terrence Howard just irritates me to no end so really the film had no draw on me to begin with; and then the critics attacked and so I was left with absolutely no reason to give it a chance. Then I found myself alone and bored with nothing to do but watch TV and the only movie on Pay-Per-View I hadn't seen was `The Brave One'.

I will say this first and foremost; both Foster and Howard have never, and I mean NEVER, impressed me more than in this film. They are the beating heart here, the reason upon all reasons to give this movie a chance. Especially Foster, but I'll get to her in a minute. Howard really sunk into his role and pulled up every ounce of his characters vulnerability. I remember back in 2005 when Howard starred in `Crash' and `Hustle & Flow' and everyone was singing his praises as the next big thing. I remember so well because I didn't get it. His performance in `Crash' was choppy and uneven, a little forced even and his performance in `Hustle & Flow' was decent but to me it ended up being 70% hype and 30% delivery. Here I actually saw what everyone had been claiming to see for so long. Here I finally saw him shine.

`The Brave One' tells the tragic story of Erica Bain, a middle-aged woman about to be married to the man of her dreams when she and her fiancé are brutally attacked and their dream is shattered. Her fiancé dies as a result of the attack and she is critically injured. Upon recovery she realizes that she is no longer the person she once was. She is trapped in this shell of fear and pain that engulfs all that she does, every decision she makes and ultimately shapes the person she will soon become. Her first step was buying a gun, a gun she initially purchased to protect herself from the very people she now feared so much but that gun soon led her down a path she didn't know was going to be presented to her.

Jodie Foster has been a critically praised actress for years now. She's won two Academy Awards for her performances in `The Accused' and `The Silence of the Lambs'. She's been considered one of our greatest actresses for quite some time but it wasn't until I saw this film that I understood why. I actually thought that Foster was overrated. She utterly blew me away here. This is by far her finest performance and to me is one of the best performances of this year, period. Her fragility, her vulnerability but most importantly her strength help elevate this character so much. There's a scene where she returns to work for the first time after the attack and she's struggling to talk, struggling to put herself out there and then all of a sudden a clicks. Her voice deepens, her eyes squint, her face tightens and in those few moments I was spellbound by her brilliance. She was captivating.

`The Brave One' is not the best film out there. It suffers from some clichés and a lack of originality but it has two very strong performances in its corner to help it survive. Despite its flaws it never falls apart or loses our interest. Foster commands every scene she embodies and carries this film straight on through to its closing. Put aside the fact that you've seen this plot unravel before and embrace the electric performances that embody the soul of this film."