The Brave One (**1/4)

A ludicrous plot sinks this Death Wish derivative in which Jodie Foster gets frightened, then pissed off. It’s supposed to be about loss and grieving, but when public-radio host/crime victim Jodie grabs a gun, it quickly becomes something else. Jodie walks the streets like a slightly saner Travis Bickle, muttering about New York being the “world’s safest big city,” which should come as surprising news to residents of Honolulu, or Zurich, but never mind. She still manages, coincidentally, to run into more shady characters than ever got into Travis’s taxi. Terrence Howard helps out as a friendly, wise police detective. As an NRA recruiting film, this is okay, but not as a convincing story. Even the radio call-in show listeners sound phony. A very strange choice for Neil Jordan, director of more sophisticated fare such as The Crying Game and The End of the Affair.

IMDB link

reviewed 11/9/07