Only the Brave

Only the Brave is a sincere and technically sound telling of the Granite Mountain Hotshots, an Arizona firefighting crew who struggled to become a certified team, banded together as a group, and ultimately faced a tragic incident that led to the most number of losses among firefighters since September 11th.  The movie is a bit shaky early on, as it tries to introduce a large number of characters and goes through a long string of forced exposition.  But it does not take long for it to find its footing, and become the emotional experience it longs to be.

We learn that Hotshots are forest firefighters who are specially trained and certified to go into on-fire areas and establish a controlled fire line that the approaching inferno cannot cross.  The Granite Mountain Hotshots are a group of 20 or so men, but the two that the movie focuses on are the team leader Eric Marsh (Josh Brolin), and rookie recruit Brendan McDonough (Miles Teller), who is a former drug addict who joins the group in order to turn his life around when his ex-girlfriend becomes pregnant with his baby.  As the film opens, they are not a certified team, and basically have to look on and watch the other teams do all the work.  Eric and his crew know the terrain, and know they have what it takes to be Hotshots.  They eventually get a chance for an evaluation when the local wildland division chief Duane Steinbrink (Jeff Bridges, giving his best performance he's given in a while here) signs them up for the chance to be Hotshots.  They almost blow their chance when Marsh makes a risky decision while fighting a fire, but it pays off, and the group is certified.

From this point, we see the group bonding as they are called in to tackle a series of forest fires, their most famous moment being when they help save a famous tree, which makes them heroes to the locals.  All of these fire scenes are appropriate intense, and give you the sensation of how these men (and others like them) risk their lives every day.  But we also get a more human side of the story when we get to see how their work effects their personal lives.  In particular, Brendan begins to grow closer to his former girlfriend and child, and wants to be a part of their lives.  When he realizes that his own child does not recognize him after the long periods he is away, he begins to question his path in life, and if he wants to continue with the group.  As for Eric, his job is taking a toll on his wife Amanda (Jennifer Connelly), who would like to settle down and start a family, but Eric seems to live for his job.  The friction this creates between them creates some powerful dramatic moments, and strong performances from both Brolin and Connelly.

Only the Brave is not so much about the firefighting, as it is about the bond these men create with one another, and how the job changes their lives, both good and bad.  Of course, the problem arises that only Marsh and McDonough get any real attention or screentime.  I understand that there is no possible way that the movie could have told everyone's story on the team, since they are a large group.  But it would have helped raise the emotional impact a little when we see actual photos of the men at the end if we knew just a little bit more about them.  There had to be a better way to handle such a large group, other than having them spout out some incidental information about themselves once in a while (one has a rock group, another had his girlfriend leave him), and have them sit on hilltops making dramatic poses.  The movie is very good with generating drama for the two characters id does focus on, but everybody else kind of gets short-sided. 

But what does work here works beautifully, and that would be all of the firefighting scenes, which have been created with some of the best effects available.  And when the movie does want to create an emotional impact in its third act, it packs a surprisingly strong wallop.  Even though we learn little about other than the two characters the movie centralizes, the film does a wonderful job of showcasing the sacrifices these men made in the film's final moments, and is certain to leave all but the most stone-hearted of viewers walking out of the theater fighting back tears.  The performances work wonderfully as well, with Brolin and Teller creating a bond that never seems forced.  We understand why Brolin's Marsh would want to take a chance on a "screw up" like Teller's McDonough, and the bond that they build is genuine.  And if I must applaud the filmmakers for anything, it's for getting them to allow Jeff Bridges to actually act again, instead of just slurring his words.  The way he handles the third act developments is genuinely heartbreaking, and the best acting he's done in a while.

Only the Brave manages to be an effects movie without glorifying the experience, or making it feel like we're just watching a technical demo.  It also manages to be a highly emotional experience without being manipulative or feel like strings are being pulled.  Despite a rocky start, I was eventually genuinely involved.  This is a rare harrowing and moving film that is certain to move just about anyone who watches it.

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