The Brave One is a 2007 vigilante action-thriller film directed by Neil Jordan and written by Roderick Taylor, Bruce A. Taylor and Cynthia Mort. The film stars Jodie Foster as Erica Bain, a New York City radio host whose fiance is beaten to death by criminals. Terrified for her safety, she buys a pistol and undergoes a personality transformation, becoming a vigilante. Detective Sean Mercer investigates the vigilante shootings, which lead him closer and closer to Bain. The film features Naveen Andrews, Nicky Katt, Zoë Kravitz, Mary Steenburgen and Luis Da Silva in supporting roles.

The action film is a film genre that predominantly features chase sequences, fights, shootouts, explosions, and stunt work. The specifics of what constitutes an action film has been in scholarly debate since the 1980s. While some scholars such as David Bordwell suggested they were films that favor spectacle to storytelling, others such as Goeff King stated they allow the scenes of spectacle to be attuned to story telling. Action films are often hybrid with other genres, mixing into various forms ranging to comedies, science fiction films, and horror films.