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Erica Bain (Jodie Foster) is a New York radio journalist, her show appeals to the art community as she talks about the city, its changes, and how she both loves and hates it. Her job may be good, but her home life is better, Erica is due to marry her partner David (Naveen Andrews)in the near future; things really could not be any better. But a late night walk with David and their much loved dog in the park soon puts an unpleasant kink in their lives, now things will never be the same.

When their dog is captured by some street thugs David tries to resolve the issue quickly and calmly; but in just seconds the situation is taken out of control and the couple severely beaten by the gang. While Erica recovers some weeks later David dies shortly after, leaving Erica to pick up the pieces of a shattered life alone. But what if life does not allow you to recover? What if you never see life the same again? Now in a city she never saw as a problem Erica heads off to right the wrongs of others, and to put an ends to all the street hatred that makes New York the most dangerous city in the world.

I always enjoy a film that stars Jodie Foster, she seems to be one of those actresses that's incredibly picky about the sort of roles she accepts, often not working for years on end as she does not feel the passion. It's this careful selection that has allowed Foster to continue to remain an A list actress for 40 years; happily I can report that The Brave One continues to allow her this reign over Hollywood.

The Brave One opens a picture of trauma, done in a very tasteful manner. Some movies over emphasise trauma, going through the every element of the recovery process in arduous detail, making the film seem inferior and often dull as a result. Here the film gives brief snapshots into the recovery process of a victim, you see Erica go through the upset of living alone after a fatal incident, the trauma of reaching for the door and going out into the real world, as well as the feeling of being watched or followed by what seems like every person on the street. The whole process is addressed in a matter of minutes, but the careful helmsmanship of the movies director Neil Jordon (The Crying Game) makes you feel like you have gone through the process with her.

While the idea of The Brave One is not new the first big Vigilante movie being the Death Wish series starring the now late Charles Bronson lead the way, but movies like Abel Ferrara's MS.45 (seen from a woman's angle like here) and

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