Brave the Dark is the story of Nate, a troubled teenager who is all alone in this world. Nate lives in his car and makes a living by breaking into businesses in the small town he lives in and stealing whatever can make a profit. When Nate is arrested, one of his teachers, Stan, finds out. His grandparents come looking for him, but Nate is not entirely welcome at their home. Stan decides to take a leap of faith and becomes the guardian of the teenager with a rocky past.
The description is that of a very sweet story, one that doesn’t allow tragic missteps or the occasional twist in the structure of a dramatic story. Brave the Dark is based on a formula, and as boring as that sounds, the movie does manage to grab you from the very beginning. The reason? The performances by two extremely underrated actors who are caught in a script that’s spread thinly on purpose. After all, what can you do with a story that’s supposed to end the way you expect it to?
Nicholas Hamilton and Jarred Harris play Nate and Stan, respectively. Hamilton, one of the hoodlums in It (2017), is great as the angry teen who doesn’t believe in anyone because no one believes in him. His counterpart is played by Harris, the lead in the TV series Chernobyl. Although I wasn’t very into the character’s naive spirit, the actor turned things around with a heartwarming interpretation that will make more than one shed a few tears.
Hamilton and Harris have chemistry, and they manage to elevate the drama above the standards of what its production studio usually admits. Their scenes together are pure gold in a film that loses steam halfway through. Angel Studios is behind Brave the Dark, and yes, the film is their typical saccharine endeavor. And while you would think that the movie suffers from being streamlined to deliver a message, it does manage to make an impact. One that’s small but still admirable.
Most of the films by Angel Studios rely on the same emotional handle: You can help make the world a better place if you decide to help others. While this message is both simple and fairly difficult to apply in real life, the Angel Studios catalog will help you see the good in some real-life stories and will inspire you to become a better person.
At least, that is what should actually happen. Angel Studios will surely keep trying to convince me that the world is already a better place by spewing out saccharine movies that are as formulaic as they are effective. Brave the Dark is a pretty good example of them upping their game with exactly the same kind of movie, greatly elevated by two good performers who do their best with the thin script they’re given.
What also elevates the movie is the fact that it’s based on a true story. The evidence is right there, and even though it’s kind of hard to believe that this is the way things happened, you will easily forget about that if you decide to let things be and enjoy an uplifting movie.
Film critic. Lover of all things horror. Member of the OFCS. RT Approved Critic.
