Film Review: Only The Brave (2017)

Director:

 Joseph Kosinski

Writers:

 Sean Flynn (based on the GQ article "No Exit" by), Ken Nolan | 1 more credit »

Stars:

 Josh Brolin, Miles Teller, Jeff Bridges

It is a tall task to adapt a film from a true story.  There is so much to consider, so much source material to attach to it and at the end of the day, it is essential to not just please the audience, but to honor the real people and their families being depicted on screen.  It is with this sort of mindset that I went into Joseph Kosinski's Only The Brave, the real life story of the Granite Mountain Hotshot wildfire firefighters who lost their lives in the Yarnell Hill Fire of 2013, the deadliest wildfire in America since 1933.

The story follows a similar formula that has grown more common over the last few years.  Mainly with the films of Peter Berg, such as Lone Survivor, Deepwater Horizon and Patriots Day, the focus of the true story is on the characters.  It is the heart and soul of this film, the Hotshot firefighters of Granite Mountain who train hard and risk their lives to fight wildfires all over America.  Led by Josh Brolin as the determined and hardworking, Eric Marsh, leader and founder of the Granite Mountain Hotshots, Kosinski uses his keen eye for cgi in the scenes with fire and dreams of fire to create a supernatural entity in the flames that Eric Marsh and company extinguish.  Brolin is so on point, it's obvious how much he cares about telling this tale as honorable and real as can be.  Finally, there is a vehicle for the talents of Kosinski, who has the vision of a great director, but never the script.  Kosinski, who shot onto the scene with Tron:Legacy and Oblivion, has often been viewed as a visually gifted director with his use of cgi and scope but of plotless films.  In Only The Brave, he options to allow the cast of real lived people to tell the story and rely on the actors to push the story forward.  His job then becomes depicting the wild of a forest fire and in that regard, this is some of the best footage filmed of a burning world.

The rest of the cast handles like a military unit of close comrades.  The Hotshots are brave and daring and skilled, more skilled than any other Hotshot unit in America according to some dialogue, but the dangers of what they do for a living is trying on their families.  Kosinski uses this to show humans being humans, but becoming heroes at the same time.  They are just men fighting fires, but somewhere along the line, we learn their work ethic and the hazards they endure and earn respect for their labor.  Where so many real life tragedies are focused on an hour and a half of devastation and drama, Kosinski focuses on the men and their lives first, only getting to the tragedy in the final act.  This makes it a rare film about people with a tragic ending as tribute.  With great acting from Miles Teller as the rookie fighting his shady past and trying to make a good mark for his newborn daughter, the heart of this film is the men on the line.  The fires they face bring them closer together and we see that develop.

When the film comes to it's finale, we see the purpose of their journey.  I couldn't help but feel bonded to these characters and forced to lose a piece of that bond as their tragic story plays out.  It becomes emotionally deep as it rolls to a conclusion and eventually breaks as we witness the anguish of the families the Hotshots left behind.  All of this, like a letter lit up to ash against a candle, leaves a lasting echo in us after it ends.  The beautiful tribute given to each man as the credits being closes out the film with complete respect.  Where so many of these films tries to omit or redirect facts for a more extravagant meal, Only The Brave shines for it's approach and handle of the material, making it an easy digestible true life story with a devastating conclusion.  A fitting tribute to fallen American heroes.

8 of 10

Tyler Baker