Jodie Foster's vigilante thriller, The Brave One, charged to the top of the weekend's box office. It overtook the well-received Russell Crowe/Christian Bale western, 3:10 to Yuma. It took the top spot rather easily despite not being overwhelming by blockbuster standards. They must be happy with the opening, especially considering the rather lackluster reception that the similarly themed Death Sentence received a few weeks back.

The Brave One is a strong film that attempts to elevate its B-level inspirations with A-level aspirations. Director Neil Jordan does an admirable job of injecting some substance into a genre film that, more often than not, is more focused on the deeds of death being handed out by the wronged man/woman. It is also helped by the strong performances from its leads, Jodie Foster and Terrence Howard. It will be interesting to see if it has any legs in the face of upcoming competition. This is generally a low-grossing time of year, so it may slip quickly.

Last week's top film, 3:10 to Yuma, fell to number two with a solid hold. It slipped a mere 36%. Some critics say that it is the best western since Clint Eastwood's Unforgiven way back in 1992. This is most likely true, but I cannot believe that it has had much competition. The last western I can recall was 2003's Open Range, which was likely the best western since Unforgiven at its time. Yuma is carried by a pair of strong lead performances from Crowe and Bale. However, if you look ahead, its "best since..." tag may be short-lived with the impending Brad Pitt starring film, The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford. Time will tell.

Two other films entered the top ten this week, placing third and fifth. First up is the Billy Bob Thornton/Seann William Scott comedy, Mr. Woodcock. Here is a film that is surprisingly good. Well, not that good. It has a lot more going on than the trailers would have you believe, although it never takes that final leap into potential excellence. Still, I found it to be worth spending some time with. Immediately following it is Korean export Dragon Wars. It is the first major film exported from Korea, and it is not a terribly good one. It's a shame too, as I know there are good films coming from Korea. Now, if they made a push a few years ago with JSA it may have gone much better. As it is, we get a film that is MST3K bad, but worthy of watching for the unintentional comedy factor.