Overlooked Movies: Braven (2018)

I’d never heard of this 2018 action movie starring Jason Momoa, but I’ve found him to be a likable lug of a protagonist so I figured it might be worth watching. He plays the title character, Joe Braven, a logger and sawmill owner in Alaska (or maybe Canada, I’m not sure that’s ever made clear), who, through a set of unfortunate coincidences, winds up with a load of drugs belonging to some bad guys stashed in his hunting cabin in the remote woods. Braven is there with his father (played by Stephen Lang) who is suffering from dementia, and his adorably cute young daughter shows up as well. Then the bad guys (including the great character actor Zahn McLarnon) arrive on the scene to reclaim their drugs and kill everybody. Many action scenes ensue.

If this movie had been made ten years earlier, it probably would have starred Dwayne Johnson. Thirty years ago, Arnold Schwarzenegger. That right there ought to tell you what you’re getting in BRAVEN. However, Momoa is as likable as ever, and he’s not a superhuman hero, either. He takes a lot of punishment in this movie, although he deals out plenty, too. Lang is nearly always interesting, Momoa’s wife is played by Jill Wagner, who is pretty badass herself, and there’s a nice twist in the final showdown between Momoa and the head bad guy that I didn’t see coming, which is always a plus. Watching BRAVEN was a pretty enjoyable hour-and-a-half for me. If you’re an action movie fan, it might well be for you, too.