I just find it ironic that in trying to make a movie against violence, Neil Jordan created one of the most deadly serious, violent films of the year. It was too preachy to be a box-office sucess, and not smart enough in its argument to be critically sucessful.
I saw an interview with Foster that made me absolutely sick (and, mind you, I'm a big fan of her acting). In it, she detests the violence in movies such as
Sin City, and says she's disgusted in how far it's come in such a comic way. Violence, she continues, should be a serious matter, one to be dealt with only in a realistic, serious tone. Therefore, she made
The Brave One.
When I see a picture like
Sin City, it's very easy for me to see that it's 100% fictional. When I see a picture like
The Brave One, I realize that I am capable of commiting acts of violence like the ones I see on screen. It doesn't help me to stray away from violence, it only blends the line between entertainment and reality.
In trying to protest this cinematic violence, she's created one of the most brutally real, violent films of the year. Unfortunately, the people she's concerned about are only going to see it as a believable form of viciousness, something they can relate to much more easily.
I also find it funny that she can trash violent movies so easily when she owes much of her fame to films like
Taxi Driver,
Silence of the Lambs, and
Panic Room.