The film stars Jodie Foster as Erica Bain, a New York City radio host whose fiance is beaten to death by criminals.

The film features Naveen Andrews, Nicky Katt, Zoë Kravitz, Mary Steenburgen and Luis Da Silva in supporting roles.

[1] At the 65th Golden Globe Awards, Foster received a nomination for Best Actress Motion Picture in a Drama.

A nearby black market gun dealer overhears her desperation for protection, and offers to sell her a Kahr K9 pistol for $1000.

When the criminal is found dead near a parking garage, Mercer inspects the area and begins to suspect Erica.

She is later informed the police have found her engagement ring at a pawn shop, and goes there to get a name, address and phone number of who sold it to them.

The woman is initially too frightened to reveal her boyfriend's whereabouts, but she later sends Erica the video recording of her attack and his address.

The site's consensus states: "Magnetic by between Jodie Foster and Terrence Howard can't quite compensate for The Brave One's problematic and unconvincing eye-for-an-eye moral.

[4] Roger Ebert of the Chicago Sun-Times gave the film three and a half out of four stars, saying Foster and Howard "are perfectly modulated in the kinds of scenes difficult for actors to play, where they both know more than they're saying, and they both know it.

Foster was nominated for Best Performance by an Actress in a Motion Picture – Drama at the 65th Golden Globe Awards.