That problem would not stand out so much if the movie really sought out to fully explore the moral questions about vigilantism outside of Erica’s own self. There is one particular scene that moves in that direction when Erica’s boss, Carol (Mary Steenburgen) asks her to get people’s reactions on the radio about this nameless vigilante and we hear a wide range of reactions from vicarious enjoyment and encouragement to outrage and repellence. A later scene, however, solidifies the story’s timidity to fully present the potential side effects of Erica's actions when a teenage victim she rescues is also inadvertently injured. Yes, the young girl may have been saved from the violent pederast who was keeping her in his car but I’m not sure that she would be so grateful enough to protect Erica’s identity after the latter shooting the man dead caused his car to swerve off the road and hit and perhaps nearly kill the girl.

It goes with the genre that every vigilante will have his or her pursuer and that character here is Detective Mercer (Terrence Howard). He is certainly a more interesting character than any of his counterparts like Vincent Gardenia in Death Wish and Aisha Tyler in Death Sentence and is able to move a little beyond the cliché of a cop who is fed up with the legal justice system. He and Erica also have a closer relationship here that builds to friendship and borders on slight, quiet romance and there is some real spark when Foster and Howard exchange dialogue, as his calm, smooth delivery contrasts well with her bottled weariness. By the film's ending though, which really shows how Hollywood studios will often have audiences eschew their own sensibilities, we see that neither character can really live up to his or her own words.

It would seem that a director like Neil Jordan could bring something more substantial to the material but even his progressive shooting of the action scenes eventually becomes participatory in the violence. The first few encounters are shot in colder, harsher hues and seem less encouraging of Erica’s actions. But when the climactic action scene is composed of a series of tracking shots where the bad guys are hunted down one by one, all the moral and emotional issues Jordan had purported to raise get thrown out the window. Some may likely cheer, I imagine, for the actions of the heroine but I personally am tired of simplistic revenge stories that choose to solely tap on base human responses.

It’s all too bad because the performances of Foster and Howard deserve a better, more uncompromising movie. I guess, as far as these kinds of films go, one can say The Brave One is about as well done as it can be within the genre parameters and lends itself some more psychological conflict than any of its predecessors. From an objective and realistic standpoint though, that is not a much of an advance.

Bottom line: Close, but no cigar.