She Said - Brave One

"He" was gone over the weekend to the land of Oz, also known as Los Angeles, so I decided to take myself to a movie at the cineplex. We see a LOT of movies, mostly at the two Landmark Theaters within walking distance of our home. These theaters show independent and foreign films so we don't see commercial films very often in the theater. This means a trip to the burbs, another thing we don't do very often.

Surprisingly, I had several choices of films but being a Jodie Foster fan decided to see just how brave she is for taking on the role of a vigilante public radio show host. You probably have seen the trailer or know the premise behind the film - Erica Bane (Foster) and her fiancé are out walking their dog when a group of thugs decides to have some fun by beating the couple to a pulp and killing Bane's fiancé. I did have a problem with the fact that Bane is left to live, real thugs would have made sure she was just as dead as the fiancé. Real thugs don't want witnesses. But like so many movies, if you don't suspend disbelief, you'll have a ten minute movie.

When Bane has sufficiently recovered from her physical scars, she tries to get back to a "normal" life with great difficulty. She is on the cusp of what appears to be a breakdown and decides that buying a gun will keep her sane. Buying a licensed, registered gun requires a waiting period (thank God) and she needs the gun, NOW. Lucky for her hanging around the gun shop is a guy who can sell her a gun TODAY, because she won't make it one more day without one. And her luck holds out when soon after getting the gun she is in a convenience store; a store where the owner's husband comes in to kill his wife. Of course, Bane is hiding behind a shelf of canned goods when her cell phone starts ringing, letting the killer know that he is not alone. Just as the killer is about to open fire on Bane, Bane lets him have it first.

And now, she is off and running - literally from the crime scene and figuratively towards her new persona as a gun-toting good girl who just happens to find herself now daily meeting bad guys who deserve to be blown away. These crimes make you question how she managed to stay safe in the city (New York) all those years without running into these characters that now seem to be at her every turn. Maybe she now has danger pheromones pouring out of her . . . like an allergy, once you get one it seems to keep reoccurring.

Of course all of these vigilante murders are stumping the cops, especially Detective Mercer (Terrance Howard of Crash fame). A hard working guy who apparently sacrificed his marriage for his job (why we needed the scene with the ex-wife did little to move the story along), Mercer just wants to catch the "guy" who is doing his job by killing all the city's bad guys. Needless to say, Bane and Mercer's paths cross several times until they finally sit down to discuss the vigilante killings.

Bane knows Mercer is suspicious of her but she has business to take care of, she needs to kill Mercer's nemesis and she needs to get revenge on the thugs that killed her fiancé. She takes care of Mercer's problem relatively easy (and not a shot was fired!) and now has to deal with her own issue. Mercer is a bright guy who puts the pieces together pretty quickly and realizes that his killer is Bane. Before you know it all the bad guys are dead; but for Bane how to get out of this without spending life in prison doesn't seem possible. Mercer shows up at the crime scene where the thugs are all dead - he figured out where Bane was headed - and offers Bane a solution.

The solution, I think, is to make them both human. Bane can now go back to being her old self and Mercer is no longer the perfect cop, but a human who needs more than his job to survive.

Don't get me wrong, the movie did entertain me. I think Foster and Howard are terrific actors and both are convincing in these roles. I just think the script could have been tighter - it lagged at times (too much time in the hospital) and then the end seemed rushed. If like me, you want to spend a Sunday afternoon with a bucket of popcorn (and Junior Mints!) and not have to think too much, this movie isn't a bad choice. If you only take in a few films a year in the theater, save this one for Blockbuster or Netflix.