The Brave One (2007; HD-DVD/DVD Combo Format)
Picture:
B+/C+ Sound: B+/B- Extras: C+ Film: B+
Note: This film has also been issued
in the Blu-ray format.
Jodie
Foster is the most consistent actress today, delivering more great performances
per capita per film than any other actress around. She is one of the greatest actresses of all
time and definitely the best of her generation.
That is easy to see all over again in Neil Jordan’s The Brave One (2007) with Foster as a gritty radio talk show host
who makes New York a character in her broadcasts. She is popular, well-spoken, creative and
expressive, has a fiancée she loves, friends, a secure job and a life she would
like to keep simple and peaceful.
One night
while walking her dog with her fiancée, who is a doctor, their dog goes running
off, they go to retrieve their beloved pet and are brutally attacked by a trio
of gang idiots with a camcorder who try to kill them both. They keep the tape and the dog, leaving the
couple for dead. The boyfriend dies, but
she somehow survives and as she recovers, she must deal with all kinds of pain
and a newfound fear. Eventually able to
return to work, the fear that the attackers are still out there, maybe even figuring
out who she is will not go away and she knows she needs to do something to stop
this.
In the
meantime, a pair of police investigators (Terrence Howard, Nicky Katt) tries to
piece together that crime, while having to juggle many others. When Erica (Foster) can’t take the fear
anymore, she buys a gun and soon finds herself using it!
The
Roderick Taylor/Bruce A. Taylor/Cynthia Moore screenplay is very good, with
guts and heart at its core, willing to take risks and turn the entire vigilante
cycle of films on its ear, going back to that other rare case in this type of
storytelling Foster was also in; Martin Scorsese’s classic Taxi Driver (1976) then subverting it by gender and intent.
As for
Neil Jordan, he has been more miss than hit as a director, even when he has
been genuinely ambitious (Michael
Collins) and his career needed a winner now more than at any other time and
he manages to deliver, but it is Foster who shines in her
three-dimensionality. I was also
impressed with Howard, giving one of his best performances to date. As a silent cat & mouse goes on between
the characters his is not initially aware of, that layer of suspense just adds
to the general suspense the film delivers, but this is also a character study
of the people, the city and what justice is.
Though it
did not do as well as it should have in its theatrical release, here is yet
another gem that most who see it will be sorry they did not catch with a big
audience. However, it is great to see it
arrive on home video, especially in this very nicely rendered 1080p 2.35 X 1
digital High Definition format. Director
of Photography Philippe Rousselot, A.F.C./A.S.C., turns in his best work to
date with a remarkable command of the scope frame throughout. In addition, the clarity, depth and sharpness
shine in this solid HD transfer. The
anamorphically enhanced DVD side is a little disappointing for the format, but
I don’t think any low def or DVD format could capture some of the nuances of
lighting for starters.
The Dolby
TrueHD 5.1 mix is one of the best to date, with so much in the original sound
master that I wonder if only pure TrueHD playback can reveal it all. Dario Marianelli’s fine score cleverly quotes
Bernard Herrmann where appropriate, than kicks in with a current sound that
further punctuates the narrative and drives a fine film ever further. This is one of those great sound mixes with
character that is only going to get better with age. Extras include additional scenes exclusive to
the HD side and a fine making-of featurette entitled I Walk The City on both sides.
The Brave One is one of the best films of 2007
and strongly recommended.
- Nicholas Sheffo
