Rating: 9 / 10

At first glance, “The Brave One” may wear the mask of the typical mainstream revenge thriller, which must rely on action and the intensity of its violence to evoke empathy from the audience. However, what director Neil Jordan has achieved here goes a bit deeper than that.

This film wisely paces itself, focusing more on the drama and refraining from rushing into the scenes of conflict. The result is a beautiful, yet dark tale about the debate of vigilantism and an observation of identity and character within our society.

Jodie Foster glows magnificently as Erica Bain, a poetically articulate radio personality living with her fiancé David (Naveen Andrews from ABC’s “Lost”) in New York.

One night, while walking their dog in Central Park, the couple is viciously attacked at random by a group of thugs. Three weeks later, Erica wakes up from a coma, still bloody and battered. David is dead.

Now, had this been the average throwaway of a movie, Erica would have most likely spent the entire film searching for the people who wronged her in order to exact her revenge.

Instead, the plot takes an interesting route and gives the spotlight to the emotional and psychological effects that the tragedy has had on Erica.

She is at first frightened to leave the house. When she finally does, she ends up illegally purchasing a handgun off the streets of Chinatown. She has no idea what she is going to do with it, and doesn’t have any plans.

Eventually, Erica is forced to use her gun on two separate occasions in self-defense. She comes to find contentment in killing evildoers. What’s unique about her new behavior is that it is perfectly inclined to fit her urban environment. She doesn’t look for trouble. Trouble finds her.

Terrence Howard (“Crash”) plays Detective Mercer, a passionate cop who admits to fantasizing about taking extreme measures to uphold civility, but he is bound by his concrete commitment to the law.

Mercer is determined to take down the vigilante, who becomes a commodity within the local media. He is a fan of Erica’s radio show and the two cross paths on several occasions and develop an important friendship.

What elevates “The Brave One” from the lot of run-of-the-mill revenge flicks is its aesthetic aura and integrity. The camera work used to portray Erica’s paranoia and detachment is effective.

There isn’t a moment where Erica’s feelings seem false. The camera tips and teeters as she tiptoes the fine line between right and wrong, and we are with her every step of the way.

Hats off to Foster for giving what is definitely another glorious performance, and what might be one of the best female performances of the year.

As the film nears its end, the realism is slightly compromised for an unlikely plot twist that seems to be geared toward gratifying the audience instead of staying faithful to the route it has created. Still, the performances delivered by Foster and Howard alone are enough to make this worth watching.