The Brave One
Warner Bros. Pictures | Release Date: September 14, 2007 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
56
METASCORE
Mixed or average reviews based on 33 Critic Reviews
Positive:
18
Mixed:
12
Negative:
3
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
88
ReelViewsJames Berardinelli
Not since "The Crying Game" has Jordan crafted as compelling a motion picture. Read full review
88
Chicago Sun-TimesRoger Ebert
Where did Hollywood get the conviction that audiences demand an ending that lets them off the hook? Foster doesn't let herself off the hook in The Brave One, and we should be as brave as she is. Read full review
88
PremiereGlenn Kenny
An intense New York-set thriller that manages to be both commercial and contemplative, kick-ass and quietly, disturbingly insinuating. Read full review
83
The A.V. ClubTasha Robinson
The moody tone and carefully balanced drama turn a grubby premise into something unexpectedly elegant. Read full review
75
Chicago TribuneMichael Phillips
The Brave One is "Death Wish" with a guilty conscience, and while it may be a bit of a hypocrite as vigilante thrillers go, the internal contradictions of the thing make for a very interesting picture. Read full review
75
New York PostLou Lumenick
The way-too-neat ending of The Brave One especially strains credulity, but it's worth watching for Foster's fiercely arresting performance. Read full review
70
Village VoiceScott Foundas
Taken literally, almost everything that follows in The Brave One so seriously strains credibility (even by the standards of the genre) as to enter the realm of the absurd. Taken on the level of a menacing urban fairy tale, however--something akin to what Jane Campion was aiming for with "In the Cut"--it's strangely fascinating. Read full review
70
The Hollywood ReporterMichael Rechtshaffen
A vigilante drama boasting a powerful Jodie Foster performance and carefully weighted direction by Neil Jordan. Read full review
70
Washington PostStephen Hunter
It's hard to hate, because as a rabble-rouser it is superbly effective, driven forward by two powerhouse actors. Read full review
70
SalonStephanie Zacharek
There's a lot to admire in The Brave One. It just doesn't cut as deeply as it needs to. Read full review
67
Austin ChronicleSteve Davis
A confounding movie on many levels. For all its sophistication and sensitivity, it turns out to be little more than an upscale B-movie about getting even. Read full review
67
Seattle Post-IntelligencerAndy Spletzer
With The Brave One, Jodie Foster and director Neil Jordan shift the genre to the murky left, where right and wrong are not so black and white. In doing so, they have taken away the very thing that makes a vigilante movie work. Read full review
63
USA TodayClaudia Puig
If only The Brave One had captured more of the complex nature of the fear and paranoia plaguing society since 9/11. Instead, it is a well-made but predictable take on the revenge fantasy thriller, with a female twist. Read full review
63
TV Guide MagazineKen Fox
Regardless of the artistry involved (though the street-level anxiety of post-9/11 New York is far better evoked in Jane Campion's underrated "In the Cut," The Brave One ultimately never really strays from the same moral low road as "Death Wish." Read full review
63
New York Daily NewsJack Mathews
Not enough to overcome the proven axiom that although you can make a bad movie from a good script, you can't make a good one from a bad one. Read full review
63
Boston GlobeWesley Morris
The movie itself isn't nearly as interesting as whatever it is Foster is trying to work out for its two hours. Read full review
63
Miami HeraldRene Rodriguez
As far as its plot mechanics go, The Brave One belongs to the hallowed (if less-than-respectable) genre of exploitative revenge pictures. Read full review
63
Rolling StonePeter Travers
Foster is electrifying as ego and id clash and the movie fires up with genuine provocation. Read full review
60
VarietyJustin Chang
Foster’s pistol-packing turn as an avenging dark angel nearly sustains director Neil Jordan’s grim vigilante drama through a string of implausibilities and occasionally trite psychological framing devices, with deft support from Terrence Howard as a sympathetic cop. Read full review
60
EmpireWilliam Thomas
It wants to be a modern "Taxi Driver"; it manages to be the new Falling Down, with Foster as fierce as ever. Read full review
58
Entertainment WeeklyLisa Schwarzbaum
Everything about Foster's ocular intensity is riveting, but little in this hushed vigilante drama makes sense. Read full review
58
Portland OregonianShawn Levy
As the film builds toward a ludicrous finale, it poses a question: Foster is a far better actor than Charles Bronson, and Jordan a much better director than Michael Winner, so why is The Brave One so much less satisfying than "Death Wish"? Read full review
50
Film ThreatPete Vonder Haar
Formulaic and creaky as a Harrison Ford action sequence, but sufficiently gussied up with good actors and a decent director so that you don’t entirely mind. Read full review
50
Baltimore SunMichael Sragow
The whole thing turns into trash with flash. Read full review
50
Chicago ReaderJ.R. Jones
What might have been a serious drama about coming to terms with violence and loss turns into a crowd-pleasing and increasingly far-fetched remake of "Death Wish." Read full review
50
Philadelphia InquirerCarrie Rickey
At the film's inconclusive conclusion, the filmmakers strand Erica and Sean in the moral twilight. Read full review
50
San Francisco ChronicleRuthe Stein
Jodie Foster and Terrence Howard are incredibly compelling and hold your attention despite Jordan's deliberately slow pacing. Read full review
40
New York Magazine (Vulture)David Edelstein
Foster’s feminist victimization complex seems to be looping around to meet Nixon and Agnew. Next she’ll be hunting Commies for the FBI. Read full review
40
The New York TimesA.O. Scott
Don’t be fooled. The Brave One, though well cast and smoothly directed, is just as crude and ugly as you want it to be. Read full review
40
Los Angeles TimesKenneth Turan
Trapped in a no man's land between seriousness and pulp trash, it plays like a combination of "Death Wish" and "The Hours." If that sounds like an awkward fit, it is. Read full review
33
Christian Science MonitorPeter Rainer
The end result, at best, is high-toned pulp. Read full review
30
Wall Street JournalJoe Morgenstern
The drama is repetitive rather than resonant, an over-calculated, under-ventilated studio production -- even paranoid thrillers need to breathe -- whose plot machinery grinds grim and coarse. Read full review
25
The Globe and Mail (Toronto)Liam Lacey
The film moves from cliché to cliché and hemorrhages blood and logic at an alarming rate. Read full review
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