The wife and I watched *The Brave One * yesterday. In the trailers for it, we saw a scene of Jodie Foster practicing at a firing range. Ebert also mentions this scene in his review. But it did not appear in the film we saw. I know they often make further cuts after they do the trailer, but obviously Ebert saw it in the finished product. But then again, I think he saw it at the Toronto Film Festival, so maybe they have a different version for general release? Or did they just do cut it out here in Thailand? There would be no reason for them to, but stranger things have happened here. Did anyone over there in the West see that scene?
Similarly, we also saw *1408 * yesterday. In the trailers, John Cusack was explaining that he investigated haunted houses because of hoping to see his dead daughter again, or something like that. But that scene did not appear in the film.
Right. The only thing that made me wonder was Ebert’s seeing it in the finished product. I suppose that just means what he saw at Toronto, where I think he viewed it, was not quite the finished product after all.
I saw it yesterday and I didn’t see a scene at a firing range. In fact, even though I hadn’t seen the trailer, I expected a scene at a firing range because she told the guy she bought the gun from that she would have to learn how to use it. He said “follow me” and I thought, what, is he taking her someplace where she can learn to use the gun? But no, he was just taking her to actually buy it.
I thought it was a good movie. Not the best I’ve seen recently (probably 4th after Across The Universe, Eastern Promises and 3:10 to Yuma) but still good.
Thanks. I suspected that was the case, that it had been cut out by the studio, but you never know in Thailand. But it was clearly incuded when the film was shown at Toronto; I wonder why they felt it needed to be cut.
maybe they cut it because they made a point of commenting on how she missed 2 of the 3 shots in the convenience store, and later commented on how she was getting better at it after the subway scene.
That wouldn’t make much sense if she’d been practicing at a firing range.
After seeing him screw up plot and character details in is reviews time after time, I’ve concluded that Ebert can’t be relied on for accuracy on minor points. I wouldn’t be surprised if he conflated the movie and the trailer in his mind.
Regardless if you like or dislike Ebert, I think he would not have written that if he had not actually seen it. Plus the scene was in the trailer; we saw that ourselves, and we did not conflate it in our minds.