A blockbuster-sized revenge thriller that sank without a trace goes on a sadistic streaming rampage

Liam Neeson tends to take most of the credit when it comes to the craze for plucking veteran character actors from the realm of drama and parachuting them into violent action thrillers, but if you want to split hairs, then technically Jodie Foster got there first when The Brave One released a year before Taken in September of 2007.

Of course, you can be forgiven for completely forgetting the big budget rampage of revenge even existed, seeing as it came and went without making much noise at all. Despite a reliably excellent turn from the two-time Academy Award winner in the lead role, director Neil Jordan’s street-level tale of savagery tanked on two fronts.

A 43 percent Rotten Tomatoes score was a major disappointment in what marked only Foster’s third time taking top billing that decade, while The Brave One failed to even recoup its substantial $70 million budget from theaters. Thankfully, grounded tales of ass-kicking and retribution remain eminently watchable on streaming, with the forgotten flop returning with a vengeance on-demand.

Per FlixPatrol, The Brave One has taken the law into its own hands to secure a place on HBO Max’s worldwide watch-list, with subscribers getting immense satisfaction from watching Foster survive a brutal attack that leaves her fiance dead, only to become a folk hero of sorts after she decides that the best method of overcoming her trauma is by single-handedly decimating the criminal element responsible in sadistic fashion, leaving her to wonder if she’s every bit as evil as they are.