The Wonderful World of DTV: Director Lin Oeding's Braven - 2018

Jason Momoa returns to screens for small scale action thriller Braven (2018), an exciting throwback to the glory days of 1980’s action cinema. It has taken quite a while for Braven to reach screens, with it beginning principal photography back at the tail end of 2015.

Since then Momoa starred as Aquaman in one of the most talked about blockbusters of the year, Justice League (2017).With Justice League, the part of Aquaman was altered from his comic book counterpart to better suit the persona of Momoa, going on to become one of the more enjoyable aspects of the films.

Similarly his role in Braven is tailor made for Momoa, although the part of Joe Braven is more realistic and relatable than Aquaman, with Momoa taking as much punishment as he gives out, giving Braven more of an everyman quality.

We are first introduced to Joe on his rough job as a logger, establishing his tough guy credentials from the get go. On his return home we are introduced to his wife Stephanie (Jill Wagner) and their daughter Charlotte (Charlotte Rossof), who it turns hardly see Joe these days due to his work commitments. As well as his wife and daughter, Joe’s father Linden (Stephen Lang) stays with them.

Linden has been struggling with a brain injury after an accident the year before, which results in memory loss and him getting into fights with strangers. This causes quite a few problems for his son, with him struggling to come to terms with the changes in his father, as well as having to stand up for his father when one of these fights break out.

Not unlike the Steven Seagal and Van Damme films of old, the real purpose of this fight is to show how much of a bad ass the main character is, with Joe stepping into fight off a gang of drunks in a bar whose misfortune it was to assault his dad. Unlike Steven Seagal who never takes a hit, Momoa takes some punches, making the fight more realistic than anything from Seagal’s filmography.

Braven doesn’t jump straight into the action, with it building up to it and letting the audience get to know the characters first. Then the axes and arrows start to fly. Other than the brief bar fight, the first action scene doesn’t come until around the 40 minute mark.

Joe and Linden find themselves at their log cabin, which is in the middle of a snowy forest. Initially they are there so Joe can speak with Linden about his health issues, but this is interrupted by them finding a hidden bag of drugs.

Not before long, a gang of drug traffickers are attempting to kill Joe and Linden and get their drugs back. The Father and Son turn out be a force to be reckoned with, taking on the gun toting gang with an assortment of homemade weaponry.

Braven marks the feature film debut of stunt man turned director Lin Oeding, who up until Braven had only directed a few shorts and television, working on shows like Chicago P.D. (2014) and the more recent Blood Drive (2017).

Oeding handles the on screen action well and gets good performances from his leads. He is let down slightly by the workmanlike script, which is typical for the genre. Luckily, the likes of Stephen Lang and Jason Momoa are able to inject their characters with more personality than is on the page.

Unsurprisingly, Oeding shows considerable skill with the films action scenes. Some may be disappointed by the smaller scale of the action, but Oeding should be commended for mainly eschewing the use of CGI and keeping the action grounded.

The style of action is more in line with older classics such as First Blood (1982), and whilst it doesn’t reach the heights of that film, Braven should keep most old school action fans happy.

Also helping the film to no end is the beautiful Canadian scenery, capably shot by cinematographer/producer Brian Andre Mendoza. Mendoza had previously worked as a producer and cinematographer on Momoa’s directorial debut Road to Paloma (2014), where he likewise carried out excellent work. Most recently he produced the television series Frontier (2017), working yet again with Jason Momoa.

As expected, Jason Momoa makes for a convincing action lead, with Joe Braven being one of his better lead roles. Getting to show his softer side when it comes to his family, he still gets ample chance throughout to show how much of a tough guy he is.

Considering his extensive career in both film and television, this is only Momoa’s second leading role in an action movie, with their being quite a gap between this and Conan the Barbarian (2011).  The other action film’s he appeared in the interim had him as a supporting player, usually as the villain in films like Bullet to the Head (2012) and Wolves (2014). Coincidentally, director Lin Odeing worked on Bullet to the Head in a stunt capacity.

There will no doubt be more leading roles for Momoa to come after the release of the upcoming Aquaman (2018). Unfortunately this may mean that he will become too high profile to go on making smaller scale action movies like Braven. This is a shame, as I would personally rather see a no frills action movie like this than the overblown CGI fests that he will no doubt be offered.

As good as Momoa is in the lead, the best performance belongs to Stephen Lang, who ably conveys the confusion of a strong man who is starting to lose himself due to mental illness. He gets the audiences sympathy, especially in a brief scene where he shows his confusion in not remembering his own granddaughter.

When the time comes, Lang still gets his fair share of the action, being involved in one of the most memorable death scenes of the film. Braven additionally marks the first time Momoa and Lang have worked with each other since Conan the Barbarian, with the two of them being on the same side this time.

Jill Wagner doesn’t have as much screen time as her co-stars but still gets involved in the action in the final third of the film, coming to the rescue of Momoa with Cross Bow in hand. It’s refreshing that in a male driven action movie the female character isn’t a typical damsel, holding her own in a fight. Braven also marked a reunion for Wagner and Momoa, as she had appeared in his Road to Paloma.

One of the only real disappointing aspects of Braven is the waste of Garret Dillahunt as the one note villain Kassen. Dillahunt has proven countless times what an accomplished actor he is and how good a villain he can be, but Braven doesn’t get him to do anything we haven’t seen before, with his character coldly killing his own men just to show how evil he is. Dillahunt is still good in the role, it is just a shame that he isn’t given more to do.

The rest of the villains are equally one note with the only standout being the great Zahn McClarnon, who gives his cowardly henchman some personality. Like a number of other people involved in the production, McClarnon has worked with Momoa multiple times, with him showing up in television series Red Road (2014) and more recently Frontier.

As mentioned previously, the script for Braven isn’t one of the better aspects of the production. It comes as no surprise that this is the only script writing credit for Michael Nilon and Thomas Pa'a Sibbett, Their writing feels somewhat disjointed, with the early character building scenes, as good as they are, clashing with the later generic action tropes. Perhaps with experience they will get improve.

This may be Michael Nilon’s first writing credit, but he has produced a number of films before this. Other than Braven, all the films he has produced have starred Nicolas Cage. None of them could be considered Cage’s best, although The Trust (2016) is better than some of Cage’s other VOD/DTV efforts.

Braven was released simultaneously in select theatres and VOD on 2nd February 2018. Perhaps due to being released in cinema’s I shouldn’t classify Braven as a DTV feature, but this is where I feel it belongs. Whilst it will never be deemed an action classic, any fans of old school, no frills action will find a lot to enjoy. It should also keep Momoa fans going until the release of Aquaman later in the year.