Though his investigation in the murders that Erica eventually commits suggests a somewhat forced convergence of events, it's a necessary one and creates a brilliantly complex dilemma for the would-be law enforcer: Is it wrong to do something bad to a person who does bad things? Thankfully, both Foster and Howard are more than capable of exploring the nuances and subtleties of these emotional conflicts. Mercer, unlike his colleagues, cares probably a little too much about catching bad guys and finds himself almost unwittingly invested in Erica's post-attack life. Added to this otherwise simple story of revenge is Erica's burgeoning relationship with Mercer (Terrence Howard), a cop who takes an interest in her case.

In the scenes following the attack, Jordan frames Erica as the only character in focus, and gives her enough room to feel both completely cut off from her fellow New Yorkers and under seemingly permanent threat of someone penetrating her bubble of isolation. Thankfully, such is not the case: Unlike many movies in recent memory dealing with death or personal loss, The Brave One closely examines Erica's grief, giving the character enough time to cultivate the sadness, confusion and eventually frustration that leads her to kill someone. In spite of the seeming focus on Erica's retaliation against the people who create fear in others (admittedly making her sound a little like Batman, or given Foster's previous films, a female Travis Bickle), one might expect that the emotional underpinnings of her story would go unexplored in lieu of revenge fantasies and violent set pieces.

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