Jodie Foster used to be one of my favorite actresses. I loved her in Taxi Driver and The Silence of the Lambs (of course), and even liked Stealing Home, Little Man Tate, and Freaky Friday. But starting with 1999′s Anna and the King, I’ve found her films to be less and less palatable, and I don’t rush out to the theater to see them anymore. That’s why I waited until her latest project, The Brave One, came out on DVD before bothering with it. It turns out that I was right not to rush it.

Plot summary (with possible spoilers): Foster stars as a NYC talk radio host named Erica Bain. The opening scenes go to great length to establish the fact that Erica and her fiancé David (played by Naveen Andrews) are the happiest couple around. They’re completely in love, and are busy planning their wedding.

Then one night, Erica’s life changes forever. She and David decide to walk their dog through Central Park, when they accidentally cross paths with a group of thugs. The bad guys take the dog, and refuse to give him back. Then, they start verbally taunting David, and things soon escalate into a full-scale beating. One of the thugs even records the brutality of the beating, as both David and Erica receive blow after blow.

David dies at the hospital, while Erica hangs on in a coma for three weeks. She slowly recovers, and is finally discharged, but the beating has made her afraid to leave her apartment. This fear leads her to buy an illegal gun off a street peddler — a move that pays off almost immediately when Erica is caught in a domestic dispute at a convenience store that very same day. Erica shoots the deranged husband (after he already shot his wife), which gives her her first real taste of power.

From that point on, Erica becomes something of a vigilante, shooting people who are in the process of committing crimes. All the while, however, the audience knows that her real targets are the guys who beat her and David at the beginning of the film.

Of course, the police become involved in all of this, and Erica develops a relationship with one cop in particular. Detective Mercer (Terence Howard) knows early on that something is not right with Erica, but he’s extremely sympathetic to her and ends up playing a crucial role in the most climactic scene of the film.

My Reaction: I just couldn’t get into The Brave One at all. The opening was a complete turnoff what with all the sex scenes between Erica and David (sorry, but I don’t buy Jodie Foster with men), and then the beating was so brutal that I had to avert my eyes until it was over. From there, I couldn’t picture Erica turning into a vigilante practically overnight, so the whole movie was lost to me.

Of course, I stuck it out and saw the ridiculous ending as well. There’s no way in hell that Detective Mercer would allow Erica to get away with all her killings and even actively help her commit a crime. I would say the ending ruined the whole film for me, but hey, I didn’t like anything up to that point anyway.

I think I’m done watching Jodie Foster movies. The Brave One was a complete waste of time for me, and I feel like such a fool for renting it. I give it just 1 star out of 5.