Powerful and riveting

In a recent interview on the "Today Show," Jodie Foster said that of all her acting gigs, she is most proud of her role in "The Brave One." Keep in mind that this is the actress who won two best actress Academy Awards for "The Accused" (1988) and "The Silence of the Lambs" (1991). But she has every reason to be proud of a role that will almost certainly secure her at least an Oscar nomination.\nFoster plays Erica Bain, a radio host with a loving fiance who enjoys walking the streets of New York. When her husband is beaten to death and she almost the same, her life changes. Confined to her apartment, fear controls her every move, a feeling brought to life with camera angles courtesy of director Neil Jordan. Erica buys a gun for protection and begins taking the lives of criminals with the ultimate goal of vengeance against those who murdered her fiance.\n"The Brave One" questions the moral order of our society and it does so in an emotionally gripping and entertaining fashion.\nIt's a revenge film that's generic at face value but sophisticated at its core. It is interesting to see how Foster's character transforms throughout the film and how she deals with the emotional burden of murder. Every kill is easier for her than the last, and the murders seem almost methodical. Foster gives strength and credibility to the role and makes it reminiscent of Charles Bronson in "Death Wish." Terrence Howard stars opposite Foster as Officer Mercer, the sympathetic investigator assigned to Bain's original case. Mercer takes kindly to Erica without knowing she is the vigilante he hunts. The two actors are at the top of their game and work brilliantly together, each conveying so much with their subtle expressions and on-screen chemistry. \nFoster garnered her first Oscar nomination for her tragic portrayal of a teenage prostitute named Iris in 1976's "Taxi Driver." Thirty-one years later Foster is back in Oscar contention, this time as an antihero fighting for people like Iris. It's great to see her career come full-circle.