Only The Brave

I live downwind from the cluster of wildfires giving North California grief. I could smell the fires all the way here a few weeks ago. It's probably ill-timing for a major movie about wildfires even if it's based on a real one and the heroes who fought it. That's where Only the Brave comes in.

The firefighter crew eventually known as the "Granite Mountain Hotshots" directly confronted wildfires in and around Prescott, Arizona. Their chief, Eric Marsh (Josh Brolin), fought hard to make them a certified crew. They take on a new recruit, Brenden McDonough (Miles Teller), just as they start their official evaluation. Brenden is a loser who decides to shape up after getting promoted to papa. All but Marsh are reluctant to let him onto the team. But he warms up to them after the team is finally certified.

The team confronts numerous fires and their own personal issues. It all leads to the 2013 Yarnell Hill Fire, which leaves only Brenden alive. Their struggle was documented in GQ's article No Exit, which formed the basis for Eric Warren Singer and Ken Nolan's screenplay.

Brenden's story arc is a movie standard. He's the screw-up trying to turn his life around, doubted by his peers, but they warm up to him. But there's no big moment where he proves himself because of the historical outcome. It works because Teller makes him likable. He's a screw-up but he's honest and hard-working. He still gets some funny bits during the movie. This surely gets him the audience's favor all the way through.

The rest of the cast is filled with great actors big and small. There's Brolin as Marsh and Jennifer Connelly as his wife, Amanda, Jeff Bridges as Fire Chief Duane and Taylor Kitsch as Marsh's deputy Chris McKenzie. They're a good bunch of characters you get to know throughout most of the film's 133 minutes. Their likability makes the ending hard to sit through.

Director Joseph Kasinski proves he can work as much with a $38 million budget as he can with a $120 million one. The wildfires and their aftermath are eerily realistic disaster scenes. Cinematographer Claudio Miranda perfectly envisions these disasters as what Marsh describes them: the apocalypse. They're matched by a sound design consisting of vicious sound effects. Billy Fox's editing builds up the drama and even comedy of the hotshots' lives.

Only The Brave is a fine true life story. It's more about the people who fight the fires than the fires themselves. There are actually more drama scenes than there are disaster scenes. So it's not accidentally too-timely considering my state's recent calamities. Whether or not you choose to see it I'll leave it to you. It's still a glowing film that's sure to join a long list of distinguished titles down the line.