The Brave (1997)

How sad is this?

I was totally surprised at how great this film.You could feel your paranoia rise as the film went on and as you gradually learned the details of the real situation.

A clunky actioner with a handful of cool moments.

Great movie. Not sure what people expected but I found it highly entertaining.

This is one of the most beautiful and at the same time most dreadful movies I ever saw. Screenplay, directing and lead actor - Johnny Depp, music - Iggy Pop, and the fact that Marlon Brando agreed to participate says enough. Story itself could be told in just few sentences, so do not expect much of action. Movie is slow, rough and crushing and it is more about evoking psychological atmosphere than telling a story. Cast is great, music too, and the way Depp pulled off the role and directing, in my opinion, makes this movie his lifetime achievement.10/10IMDb rating for this movie is shameful and tells more about superficial taste of today's audience than quality of the movie itself.

When this came on Tasmanian television, (oh yes) I did have some misgivings about staying up late to watch it. Then the "directed by Johnny Depp" came on and I thought....boy if Brando wasn't in this I am off to bed. But I sat up, watched it, and it one of those films that stays with you. The horror and the torture come later, and it is awful to think of this brave young man subjecting himself to these monsters, but that is the lure of the story I guess. Perfect casting by Depp, cant argue with the direction or the story. It's bleak but somehow beautiful at the same time. Yes it shows the best and worst of humanity. Not something to watch with the family on a movie night, but it does deserve an audience...you will not enjoy it but you will remember it.

A down-on-his-luck American Indian (Johnny Depp) recently released from jail is offered the chance to "star" as the victim of a snuff film...I should first say that I watched the Korean important version, which has over 20 minutes cut from the full version. I am unclear how much difference this makes, but it does seem to create a minor continuity problem here or there. I would gladly watch it again in the full version just to see what I missed.This film captured the 1990s. The darkness, the nihilism. Surely not everyone approached the 90s this way, but industrial music was at its peak, and films like "Seven" and the works of Tim Burton were at the forefront of popular culture...Casting Johnny Depp as an Indian was debatable, of course, as he only vaguely looks the part. But he does bring a certain star power to the film that probably gets it noticed by more people this way. And if Marlon Brando could be Mexican in "Viva Zapata", why can Depp not be Indian here? (In fairness, his great-grandmother was Cherokee, so it is not completely a fabrication... just mostly.)

I agree with those that say, that this is a good story. It's like a Twilight Zone episode. In the beginning, one is intrigued and guessing what will happen but then that breaks down, and it doesn't seem to be fantasy anymore. It just seems like we don't really believe in the story or the characters anymore. Why would any of them act like that? Seriously, I really think Rod Serling could have gotten some great stuff out of this, apparently, Hostel-like story and setup. The subject of snuff-movies is an epic theme, but this way of telling the story is just so weak that we lose interest. Still it is a lot more interesting than the average movie, and clearly Johhny Depp is a talented director but he should really have thought some more about creating some excitement in this story.