the brave one

Brave Hatton cut down by Mayweather masterclass


Richard Williams in Las Vegas
Sunday December 9, 2007
Guardian Unlimited


Ricky Hatton is knocked down for the second time in the 10th round. Photograph: Ethan Miller/Getty



It was the final act of a year of anti-climaxes for British sport, but as Ricky Hatton lay spreadeagled on the canvas under the gaze of Floyd Mayweather midway through the 10th round of last night's WBC welterweight title fight there was no one in the 60,000 crowd who was about to question his performance. Least of all Mayweather, who had given a masterclass in the art of dealing with an awkward and spirited opponent. "Ricky Hatton is a hell of a fighter," Mayweather said afterwards. "I tip my hat to him. Nothing but the utmost respect."

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But the greatest respect, after nine and a half rounds of unrelieved tension and excitement, went to the American for the way he absorbed Hatton's early assaults, measured his opponent carefully and meted out brutal punishment before finding the most clinical of finishes.
In the end Hatton had only his courage, but that was monumental. "He's as tough as nails," Mayweather said. "A couple of times I thought, 'damn, he ain't gone yet.' He was still coming."

That would have been the eighth round, when Mayweather pierced Hatton's rudimentary defence time and again with percussive right-hand blows. He seemed to be cutting down his opponent in rapid stages, but somehow Hatton hung on until the break. In the final seconds he was even producing the semblance of a counterattack, and came out for the next round once again going forward, as if the fight had only just begun.

It was, however, an illusion. Another aggressive start to the 10th had proved as ephemeral as a light fall of snow when, with barely a minute gone, Mayweather found the blow that effectively ended the contest. It was a carefully primed left hook, and it sent Hatton stumbling head first into the post in the American's corner. He reeled back and fell, and at that point the referee, Joe Cortez, might have felt justified in calling a halt.

But he allowed the fighters to carry on and within a few seconds of the resumption Mayweather stunned Hatton with two more lefts that sent him reeling into the ropes. The Englishman was sliding sideways to the canvas when his opponent held back a right hook that might have caused permanent damage.

As Mayweather was being carried around the ring in triumph, Hatton was reassembling his senses. Within a couple of minutes they were embracing, and the victor was speaking urgent words of admiration before planting a kiss of consolation on his victim's cheek.

Seldom can a fight have flashed by so quickly. The first two rounds passed in a blur as Hatton launched his expected assault, disdaining to probe Mayweather's defence with anything as circumspect as a jab. Mayweather was drawn into the aggression, perhaps affected by the sheer noise of the support for his opponent, but he never allowed himself to lose his composure and his long right hand to Hatton's cheek midway through the second round was the first really telling blow of the contest.

In the third and fourth rounds he stepped up his counterattacks, beginning to disconcert Hatton by showing that he could be just as effective when fighting at close quarters, which was supposed to be the Mancunian's area of special expertise. "I knew I'd have to be versatile," Mayweather said, and after last night no one could have remained in any doubt about the breadth and depth of his talent.

All three judges gave the fifth round to Hatton, which seemed over-generous. The round ended with Mayweather's forearm pressed against his opponent's throat, to a storm of booing from the British fans. There was more bad feeling in the sixth, when Hatton bundled Mayweather halfway through the ropes, head first, and then delivered an illegal punch. Warned by the referee, he turned and showed his backside to his opponent. The two men squared up after the bell but were separated by Cortez, who had a busy night.

Like the fans' jeering of the Star Spangled Banner, Hatton's insulting gesture was not a move likely to do anything other than motivate Mayweather. It was in the next round that the American moved inside to give Hatton a serious taste of his own medicine, and in the eighth he began the first stage of the final demolition.

"I was all right until I fookin' slipped," Hatton deadpanned in the post-match press conference, bringing laughter from the room and a smile to the winner's face. "Full marks to Floyd Mayweather," he said. "He knew I could fight and I certainly know now that he can fookin' fight. He's better on the inside than I thought he would be. I didn't really feel the body shots until the 10th. I thought I'd done well in the fight until then. But he's clever. When I had to force it a bit, he saw a chance and he took it."

Afterwards he promised to return. Mayweather announced his retirement while he was still in the ring but later, after showering and changing, said he had made no decision. Such considerations can wait their turn. Last night they left boxing with an unforgettable spectacle and a great champion
The Brave One (2007 film)
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The Brave One

Promotional film poster
Directed by Neil Jordan
Produced by Susan Downey
Joel Silver
Written by Roderick Taylor
Bruce A. Taylor
Cynthia Mort
Starring Jodie Foster
Naveen Andrews
Terrence Howard
Mary Steenburgen
Jane Adams
Nicky Katt
Zoe Kravitz
Dana Eskelson
Music by Dario Marianelli
Cinematography Philippe Rousselot
Editing by Tony Lawson
Distributed by Warner Bros.
Village Roadshow Pictures
Sliver Pictures
Release date(s) September 14, 2007
Country United States
Australia
Language English
Official website
All Movie Guide profile
IMDb profile
The Brave One is a 2007 crime drama film starring Jodie Foster. It was directed by Neil Jordan, and was released on September 14, 2007 in the United States.

Contents
1 Plot summary
2 Cast
3 Critical reception
3.1 Criticism
4 Box office performance
5 References
6 External links



[edit] Plot summary
As radio show host Erica Bain (Foster) and her fiancé David (Andrews) are walking their dog at Stranger's Gate in New York, they are attacked by three violent criminals. David later dies from his injuries, but Erica survives. Unhappy with the police response and unable to deal with the psychological trauma caused by the assault, she attempts to purchase a gun. Unwilling to wait the month required to obtain a notice of approval, she acquires one illegally, and is drawn into a world of vigilantism, killing random criminals and attempting to track down the thugs who killed David.

She strikes up a friendship with Detective Mercer (Howard), who is investigating the vigilante crimes and initially unaware of her role in the deaths, though over the course of the film he comes to suspect her as the killer.

At the climax of the film, she finds and confronts the thugs responsible for the murder of David. She kills two and struggles with the third. Mercer arrives on the scene and has the thug go prone. Erica then retrieves her weapon and attempts to execute the thug. Mercer convinces Erica to lower the gun, but hands her his own in order for her to use a legal weapon to kill the last thug. She kills the thug and Mercer instructs Erica to shoot him in the shoulder so he can make up a story that the thugs were the ones who went on the vigilante killing spree, until he tracked them down and confronted them, being shot by their leader in the process. He places Erica's gun in the last thug's dead hand and Erica leaves the scene with her dog.


[edit] Cast
Jodie Foster � Erica Bain
Naveen Andrews � David
Terrence Howard � Detective Mercer
Nicky Katt - Detective Vitale
Mary Steenburgen � Carol
Jane Adams � Nicole
Zoe Kravitz - Chloe
Dana Eskelson - Sketch Artist

[edit] Critical reception
As of September 18, 2007 on the review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes, 45% of critics gave the film positive reviews, based on 128 reviews.[1] On Metacritic, the film had an average score of 56 out of 100, based on 31 reviews.[2] Yahoo movies ratings give it a "B-" from critics (14 reviews).

Bill Gibron of PopMatters gave the film a 9 out of 10 and said the film is a "startling achievement" for Jodie Foster and Terrence Howard. Gibron said Foster deserves another Oscar, and said the film is "yet another notch in the growing artistic oeuvre of Neil Jordan." Gibron wrote that the film "sticks with you", saying that after the film is over, "the circumstances and situations keep playing over and over in your head." Gibron wrote, "Calling it an estrogen-laced Taxi Driver or a female fashioned Death Wish misses the point." Gibron said "on its surface, it's a standard revenge flick...but it's also much more than that. It's an excuse for empowerment in a post 9/11, Red State/Blue State, Yellow Alert existence." Gibron said it is "one of the best, most deep and disarming films of the year" and "monumental, moving stuff." Comparing the film to Death Sentence, Gibron said "when Foster fires her weapon...we are seeing something more than just payback..."[3] Detroit Free Press critic Terry Lawson said the film "is as bold a movie as we are likely to see this year, a movie that has more in common with 1970s provocations like Straw Dogs and Taxi Driver than the simplicities of Death Wish or its recent progeny, Death Sentence." Lawson said the film "dares to deal with the darkest human impulses in serious ways and would rather leave us disturbed than relieved or self-satisfied." Lawson said the film is "masterfully photographed" by Philippe Rousellot and noted that Neil Jordan has raised similar questions about the nature of civility in films like Angel, The Company of Wolves, The Crying Game, and The Butcher Boy. Lawson described Jodie Foster's performance as "shattering", "wrenching", and "fierce", and said the film would have seemed preposterous if not for her "theatrical, deeply personal and compellingly physical" performance.[4]

LA Weekly film critic Scott Foundas said it's a film "where America's once-upon-a-time sweetheart goes all Charles Bronson on us, not against creepy home invaders (à la Panic Room), but against anyone who so much as looks at her crossways. Well, not exactly, but you get the idea." Foundas wondered, "are we really witnessing something courageous (as the title suggests) or merely an arted-up exploitation flick―Death Wish with allusions to [D. H. Lawrence and Emily Dickinson]―meant to cash in on audience feelings of fear and impotence in a violent society?" and said "Those are questions...I still haven't settled my own mind about." Foundas said "the premise smacks of high-concept contrivance", and "taken literally, almost everything that follows...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 [like Mona Lisa or In the Cut]―it exudes a strange fascination", saying that vigilante movies have always seemed like variations on superhero movies. Scott Foundas wrote, "Arguably, Death Wish's Paul Kersey showed more inner conflict over the taking of another human life." Foundas said The Brave One isn't the first female-vigilante movie, but unlike the protagonist in Ms. 45, Erica Bain talks about her kills. Foundas said the film "hangs in suspended animation between the grindhouse and the art house" but that the film "is more ambitious and alive―more worth writing, talking and thinking about―than anything that has tumbled off the Hollywood assembly line in a good long while."[5] Justin Chang of Variety said "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." Chang wrote that the film feels appropriate coming from Neil Jordan, who "has handled issues of gender subversion with subtlety and dramatic flair" in previous films. Chang said that Foster's performance "takes on extra-textual dimensions" thanks to her previous performances as a rape victim in The Accused, a battered prostitute in Taxi Driver, and an FBI agent in The Silence of the Lambs. Chang said the script relies on "tidy coincidences" and plot devices that seem "awfully convenient", but that "Foster delivers a performance of astonishing physical and psychological credibility." Chang wrote that "the actress all but physicalizes the idea of a woman boldly inhabiting a man's skin." Chang said Neil Jordan "attempts to tap into post-9/11 anxieties and comment on the very American idea of righteous payback." Justin Chang also wrote that the film's dark and grungy ambience is just right thanks to Philippe Rousselot.[6]


[edit] Criticism
Kenneth Turan of the Los Angeles Times said the film is more foolhardy than brave and called it an "unwise attempt" to attract fans of Jodie Foster's performances as well as "the yahoos who scream when evil blood is spilt." Turan said a comparison to Ms. 45 is more apt than Death Wish, and said "because neither Foster nor director Neil Jordan wants anyone to think they've made anything as lurid and disreputable as Ms. 45: The Sequel, great pains have been taken to dress up The Brave One's similar material in socially acceptable clothing." Turan also noted that Foster objected to the film's title but director Neil Jordan and producer Joel Silver insisted on keeping it. Turan wrote "before you can say 'Charles Bronson', a series of wicked coincidences put her in contact with charter members of the Deserve to Die club." Turan said that Terrence Howard makes Detective Mercer "a more involving character than he would otherwise be", but that the scenes between Foster and Howard can't redeem the film. Turan wrote, "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." Turan said "instead of the best of both worlds, the filmmakers have managed to deliver the worst."[7] Carla Meyer of The Sacramento Bee gave the film 2 stars and said the film "celebrates its avenging angel as it pretends to examine her" and that "Foster's great acting can't disguise [the] exploitive nature" of the film. Meyer said "It certainly puts up a convincing front, with its moody, elegant visuals and commentary on the nature of revenge" and that the film's "biggest draw" is Foster's performance. Meyer wrote "her expressions exhibit a rawness rarely seen on screen these days. It's truly as if the camera isn't there," but said that the film "sends a Foster fan into conflict. Elation at seeing a phenomenal talent really get a chance to act turns to disappointment when the film (which she also executive-produced) exposes itself as exploitation." Carla Meyer wrote, "by the film's end, it's clear the ruminations on violence and the human heart serve only to wrap a plain ol' vigilante film in a package of thoughtfulness."[8]

The Baltimore Sun critic Michael Sragow gave the film a "C" and said the film is "an illegitimate heir" to Taxi Driver, but "the whole thing turns into trash with flash" and called it "fundamentally insane." Sragow noted that there have been "bloody female revenge fables" before (like Ms. 45) and said The Brave One is a "maddeningly simple yet pretentious payback fantasy." Sragow wrote that the film is "a feminist exploitation film posing as a character study." Sragrow said "the script is so poorly developed that [Bain] seems not a new person but two people" and said that "even Howard can't pull off cliched action turns" but said "Nicky Katt steals scenes" as a wisecracking sidekick. Sragow wrote, "This film may be a crossover hit of sorts. Upscale audiences who wouldn't be caught dead at a Death Wish flick but adore Foster and Howard can get their cheap thrills and think they're seeing something classy and brand new. The Silence of the Lambs fans can savor the sight of Foster transforming into a sort of serial killer herself."[9] Brian Webster of Apollo Guide rated the film 65 out of 100 and said the film "might have been honest, perceptive, and troubling. Instead, it becomes aimless revenge porn." Webster wrote the film "finds Irish director Neil Jordan entirely bereft of the magic he brought to some of his earlier films," and that it is a shame Jordan was not involved in writing the screenplay. Webster wrote "what we get is another Walking Tall rip-off, with bogus relationships and a morally repugnant theme" and "we get Rambo woman on the prowl" instead of a "fascinating film about fear, revenge, and guilt." Webster said the film "disintegrates in its second half" and said the ending was stupid and contrived.[10]

Carrie Rickey of the Philadelphia Inquirer gave the film 2 out of 4 stars and called the film "an exploitation flick with top-flight talent and arty pretensions." Rickey said the film "resurrects a genre popular in the 1970s - the vigilante cycle of Dirty Harry, Death Wish and Taxi Driver - when America was embroiled in an unpopular war" and speaking of Death Wish wrote "at least that unapologetic B-movie was clear that blood justice, however viscerally satisfying, wasn't a solution to the problem of crime." Rickey said "It's tempting to read the movie as a commentary on 9/11 and Iraq, a New Yorker who seeks revenge on those who destroyed her city. This is the intent of the film that suggests that as 9/11 has forever changed America, it has altered Erica (whose name is a shorter version of America). But that would be to accept that this lurid when-women-kill film is high-minded." Rickey said Jodie Fosters's performance is the film's main appeal, calling it a "physical and psychological tour de force", but that it doesn't have the "transgressive rush" of roles played by Sigourney Weaver in Alien or Linda Hamilton in the Terminator films. Rickey wrote that both Terrence Howard and Nicky Katt give "exceptional performances" and that Katt is "wryly funny." Rickey said the film "isn't sure what it thinks. Is Erica shell-shocked? An avenging angel?" and wrote "because it wants the applause both of the chatting classes and the blood crowd, The Brave One doesn't take a firm position about vigilantism."[11]


[edit] Box office performance
In its opening weekend in the United States and Canada, the film was #1 at the box office, grossing US$13,471,488 in 2,755