Summary
- Jason Momoa's standout film, Braven, is his highest-rated non-franchise action movie, according to Rotten Tomatoes.
- Despite being overshadowed by big-name franchise roles, Braven showcases an exceptional action performance by Momoa.
- Compared to the underwhelming Sweet Girl, Momoa's Braven offers a more engrossing and satisfying viewing experience with its solid plot.
With big-name film franchises populating Momoa's film career throughout the 2000s largely fell through the cracks. Fortunately, Momoa's efforts as GoT’s Khal Drogo shot him into another level of stardom, occasioning more pronounced movie breaks.
Four years after GoT, Momoa began a tour of appearing in massive franchise roles, including DC's Aquaman, Dune's Duncan Idaho, and Fast & Furious' Dante. That said, just as his big early career stints did, Momoa's franchise roles have overshadowed some of the actor's more modest efforts, even though they hold great value. This sentiment is especially true for a 2018 action thriller he starred in, which boasts a 77% Rotten Tomatoes critical score but has tumbled under the radar due in part to the hype, expectation, and delivery of the franchise movies the actor appeared in around the same time.
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Jason Momoa's Braven Is Probably His Best Non-Franchise Action Movie
Both Critics And Audiences Agree
On top of entertainment quality, Braven is also Momoa's highest-rated non-franchise action film by RT critics, after films such as Bullet to the Head and Once Upon a Time in Venice.
Between Justice League and Aquaman, Lin Oeding's directorial debut, Braven, was released with Momoa in the leading role. Braven features Momoa as logging company owner Joe Braven, who finds himself, along with his father and daughter, in a stand-off with a gang of drug traffickers during what was supposed to be a quiet weekend at the family's hunting cabin. Retaining a 77% critical approval rating and a higher approval rating of 79% with audiences, Braven is possibly one of Momoa's best action movies outside a franchise.
Braven was released under Jason Momoa's production banner, Pride of Gypsies.
On Rotten Tomatoes, critics and audiences characterize Braven as a solid, though somewhat generic, action film. Viewers cite its cast, which includes Garret Dillahunt, Jill Wagner, and Stephen Lang, the setting's striking location, and its justice-seeking action as strengths that overcome some of its more obvious flaws. In the words of Slashfilm's Chris Evangelista, "Braven is not high-art, but gosh almighty is it highly entertaining." On top of entertainment quality, Braven is also Momoa's highest-rated non-franchise action film by RT critics, after films such as Bullet to the Head and Once Upon a Time in Venice.
Braven Is Secretly A Better Version Of Momoa's Netflix Movie 3 Years Later
Braven Does Action With A Family-Oriented Angle Better Than Sweet Girl
Concerning appeal, Braven also sures a more recent non-franchise action movie starring Momoa - 2021's Sweet Girl. The film, distributed by Netflix and featuring Momoa in his most popular career era, had a better fighting chance of catching viewers' attention than Braven ever did. Regardless, Sweet Girl paled in comparison and ultimately received poor RT ratings of 23% with critics and 49% with audiences. Sweet Girl's premise, which follows a family man named Ray (Momoa) seeking life-endangering answers from a pharmaceutical company that pulled a potentially life-saving cancer remedy from the market before his wife's death, failed to sway viewers.
Whereas in Braven, Joe Braven's fight for and alongside his father and daughter is engrossing, Ray's family-oriented plight in Sweet Girl is bogged down by complications viewers can not get down with. huge plot twist and unsatisfying ending cheapen the film enough to warrant it flying under the radar of better Momoa films. Braven's family-angled action thriller is a cut above and, as such, it deserves to be held in higher regard not only to Sweet Girl but a few of Jason Momoa's more popular action flicks.
Stream Braven on Prime Video and Pluto TV.
Source: Rotten Tomatoes
Braven
- Release Date
- February 2, 2018
- Director
- Lin Oeding
- Writers
- Thomas Pa'a Sibbett, Michael Nilon
Cast
James Harvey Ward
-
Teach Grant
WHERE TO WATCH
Braven is a 2018 action thriller directed by Lin Oeding. Jason Momoa stars as Joe Braven, a logger who must protect his family from a dangerous group of drug runners at their remote mountain cabin. As tensions escalate, Joe's survival instincts are put to the ultimate test.
- Main Genre
- Action
Source: Rotten Tomatoes
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