Some movies are more frustrating because of their unfulfilled potential. When you put a movie like Meet the Spartans in your Blockbuster queue or decide to watch Norbit again on cable, you know the bar that the film has to clear for you is lower than with other projects. With an amazing director (Neil Jordan), a strong supporting cast (including Terrence Howard and Naveen Andrews of Lost), and one of the best actresses ever (Jodie Foster), the bar for The Brave One is undeniably higher. You expect more from it because the people involved have proven what great work they can do in the past. With the right material, Neil Jordan is a master behind the camera and Foster is incapable of giving an awkward performance. And that's what makes The Brave One such a disappointment. You keep waiting for it to work, for the film to click on the level that everyone involved is capable of and it's not until the credits roll that you realize that's just not going to happen. Jordan is too talented and Foster too mesmerizing for it to be a total disaster, but that's faint praise for a movie that could have, no, should have been great.

So, what went wrong with The Brave One? It's simple - suspension of disbelief. In the film, Foster plays radio DJ Erica, a woman who is nearly killed in a brutal attack on her and her fiancee. Her loved one doesn't make it and Erica turns into a vigilante, more aggressively seeking out wrong doers until she finds the men who ruined her life. What could have been a dramatic Death Wish for a new generation, starts to fall apart early on when the screenplay forces Erica into more and more unbelievable positions. A woman who has trouble leaving her house because she's so afraid of the world beyond her front door is far too quickly heading down a back alley with a complete stranger to purchase a gun. And that's only one of many moments that just don't ring true. The Brave One simply doesn't work if you don't believe what's happening, no matter how hard Foster tries to sell it or how creatively Jordan films it. And I didn't buy a minute of it.

The DVD from Warner Brothers is a good one in the technical department but rather disappointing when it comes to special features. WB has been a little off their game lately when it comes to bonuses and one has to wonder if they're saving up for special editions and double dips. Perhaps they've realized that standard DVD special features might not be worth the effort for them, especially on a movie like The Brave One, which is more likely to be a rental than a purchase for most DVD fans. They never disappoint on a video or audio scale. They're the industry leaders when it comes to anamorphic widescreen and surround sound. No studio is more consistent. But The Brave One comes out on the same day as the far superior The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford and neither star-studded major film comes with a commentary track. Where JJ doesn't come with a single special feature, at least The Brave One has some additional scenes and a featurette, but, like the movie itself, fans may be left wanting more.