Braven is an action-thriller movie released in 2018, where Jason Momoa stars as Joe Braven. He works as a logging contractor and a devoted family man whose peaceful life with his daughter Charlotte Sasha, wife, Jill Wagner, and father, Stephen Lang, who suffers from dementia, is disrupted. In a turn of events, Joe decides to take his father to a secluded family cabin located near the Canadian border in order to bond with him and take some time off. Unfortunately, they find out that their cabin is being used as a hideout by drug traffickers.
Armed with the belief that the cabin is safe and secluded, the drug traffickers led by Kassen Garret Dillahunt, decided to hide a large amount of cocaine there. One day, Joe finds the drugs and becomes a target of the traffickers which leads to a violent standoff. With both Joe’s wife, daughter and father at the risk of being hurt, he has no choice but to protect them.
Rather than submitting to the will of the traffickers, Joe adamantly stands his ground, and the war that begins is one he means to win. In what initially appears to be a grotesque game, he utilizes his understanding of the topography along with his inventiveness to subdue the armed thugs. When Joe experiences the brave resolve of his father followed by the willpower to lose everything, the scenario sets itself for violent chaos as Joe battles alongside those he considers family and forces them out of their homes.
While the memory drain mixed with lower self-esteem drives Joe to push himself harder Linden makes for a powerful emotional calculation. Kassen’s gang should not have stood a chance against Joe because his unwillingness and able-mindedness made for perfect conditions against such sophisticated thugs. The result translates to a free flow of fighting, gory violence, along with survival skills.
Cast & Crew:
Jason Momoa as Joe Braven: Joe grows wildly protective of his family which reflects in his tense approach towards the film. If the audience ever wanted to see a rough around the edges devoted family man, then look no further because Jason Momoa -the brutally transparent Joe Braven- genuinely rewrites the definition of physicality and emotional weakness.
Stephen Lang is portraying Linden Braven: Linden is the son of Joe, he worked as a logger but he is retired now due to being diagnosed with early onset dementia. Although his condition is deteriorating, Linden becomes a great asset to the cause, not only showing fight but also wisdom. Stephen Lang, who rose to fame from the movie Avatar as Colonel Quaritch, has given Lindon’s character a devastating and powerful hallmark.
Garret Dillahunt as Kassen Kassen is the drug traffickers’ team who’s the leader and is extremely greedy and will stop at nothing to fulfill his tasks. Dillahunt is known to portray negative roles such as in Deadwood and Fear the Walking Dead. He gives this character a sense of poise and danger at the same time.
Jill Wagner is acting as Stephanie Braven: Joe’s committed wife that puts her life at risk for the sake of their daughter and is one of the most important characters in the storyline.
Sasha Rossof as Charlotte Braven: Joe and Stephanie’s daughter who is the most fragile in the family therefore brings tension to the movie as she is young.
Zahn McClarnon plays one of Kassen’s top men in the gang alongside playing the role of Hallett which urges to the pack of gangsters.
Director: Lin Oeding (his debut feature film, this one)
Writers: Michael Nilon and Thomas Pa’a Sibbett
Themes and Action:
Braven is more than a mere survival thriller, but at its heart touches on themes of family, responsibility and the will to carry on. There is an important theme of familial spirit that runs through the film, as both Joe and Linden deal with the tasks at hand, in spite of the things that they have to bear, Joe in the role of a protector, and Linden in his old age. But more importantly, there is a touch of all consuming love in the film that is mostly associated with Joe and the lengths he would go to keep his family secure.
Braven does not disappoint on the action fronts as well, offering wild hand to hand combat as close combat weapons are wielded, bows, axes, hunting traps, and the environment. The famed survival skills of Joe Braven resemble a cross between a more primitive Rambo and a John McClane out of Die Hard while the traps that he sets for the enemies make for extremely interesting scenes where Braven is blending the environment to turn the crazed battle to his advantage. Additionally, the barren snowy locale enhances the fight’s thru-the-ice-nipple realism, making the battle in itself somewhat more challenging.
Ratings and Reviews:
IMDb Rating: 5.3/10 (based on more than 22,000 user reviews)
On the other hand, the critics were not fond of Braven, but audiences verged on liking it owing to the sheer concept and idea of action that the film represented. Jason Momoa’s performance was praised by many as Jason was able to handsomely fit the bill of a rough and tough family man who is ready to sacrifice it all. Moreover, Stephen Lang’s character of Linden provides a mix of emotion in the otherwise run of the mill action-thriller genre.
Many critics have also pointed out several flaws with the show, chiefly the very structured and unoriginal plot and ethe standard tropes. Critics Bugajski and others have drawn comparisons between this film and the 2008 film Taken and 1997 The Edge, because of the ‘siege’ theme that most of the films share. Others want to point out that the villains of this are not new, and relied heavily on cliches. But to Jason Momoa’s credit, the pacing, tension, and brutal action were enough and so the film was still entertaining to those intrigued by survival films.
Braven is one of those movies that does not lack in action and tension, and if watching emotional raw combat in a bare wilderness is what you enjoy then Braven delivers exactly what was promised. While Jason Momoa’s strong and robust presence carries the storyline, Stephen Lang interjects a doze of emotional nuance quite tenderly. The film’s story is uncomplicated, displacing most of the facial expressions of action-thriller fans toward a plot revolving around overworked heroes and villains. To state the least, if you wish to see a packed narrative revolving around ex soldiers protecting their family with little to no restrictions, Braven is a good option to indulge in.
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