Only the Brave is a natural disaster biopic inspired by the Granite Mountain hotshots of Prescott, Arizona. These wildlife firefighters were the first municipal agency to receive the hotshot designation, which distinguishes them as a Tier 1 inter-agency crew. They obtained that designation in 2008. 19 of the 20 team members perished in 2013 in the Yarnell Hill Fire. This film takes some liberties with the material, condensing that timeframe to a single year for the purposes of telling the story.
Brendan "Donut" McDonough (Miles Teller) is a pothead loser. When he discovers that his ex-girlfriend is pregnant with his child, he realizes that he has to make some changes in his life. He has pledged to support the child, but his offer is not immediately embraced. McDonough learns that there are a couple of openings on the wildlife firefighting crew, which is a Tier II team preparing to test for elevation to Tier I. The superintendent, Eric Marsh (Josh Brolin) takes McDonough under his wing, offering him a chance at redemption. McDonough slowly shakes his burnout reputation, endearing himself to the team. The crew passes their evaluation to become "Hotshots" leading them into the thick of the fray. After testing their skills against several massive fires, the firefighters are faced with a monster blaze that spreads rapidly. "Like wildfire" as they say. A serious miscalculation puts the entire team in danger. The rest is history.
Writer Sean Flynn takes certain liberties with the story, based on a GQ article written by Ken Nolan and Eric Warren Singer. The story is compressed to a one year time period for cinematic purposes. That was probably a smart call since this film ran a bit over two hours. It was just long enough not to start bogging down. The pacing was fairly steady throughout, which is important for a film of this length. The main characters were well developed. The chemistry between Marsh and McDonough seemed like a genuine mentor relationship. The relationship between Marsh and his wife was strained, but not really credible to me. It could have used some attention. The dialogue between the firefighters seemed genuine. There were some aspects that military, police and firefighters share that we all understand. The fraternal game playing as well as some mild references to the jousting between police and firemen. Overall, the writing was solid.
Miles Teller is one of my favorite up and coming actors. He is paired in this film with a couple of my favorite veterans, Josh Brolin and Jeff Bridges. The casting was superb. Even the secondary roles in the film were filled with a solid cast. I love Jennifer Connelly, who plays Marsh's wife Amanda. She is looking malnourished, though. It was kind of distracting. Her performance was solid, although her chemistry with Brolin just didn't mesh for me. It was sort of side story anyway, so it was a minor distraction. There was also a scene near the end of the film involving Teller and Connelly. As much as I enjoy Teller's performances, that one scene felt awkward to me. It was meant to invoke emotion but it felt forced. Other than those very minor issues, the performances were what you would expect from an incredible cast.
The MPAA rated Only the Brave PG-13. The rating seems fair. The thematic material deals with death, which might be enough to earn that rating in and of itself. The beginning of the film delved mildly into McDonough's drug use. So there is a scene involving a bong followed by another incident at a bar. Mild stuff. My biggest concern with younger viewers would be the issue of death and answering any questions that might provoke. I'm not sure this is the type of stuff nightmares are made of. Probably not. But it is definitely a difficult discussion if broached by young minds old enough to understand that the firefighters died. It is not depicted graphically, but it is clear what has happened.
I enjoyed Only the Brave. I was a bit concerned about the runtime, at 133 minutes, but it did not lag. The performances were solid, the dialogue was believable and the subject matter was intriguing. The film delved a bit into the practical aspects of firefighting, so you even learn a little bit about how wildlife firefighters operate. The film avoided some of the controversy surrounding these deaths and chose to depict it as a straight-forward hero story with a dose of redemption. It wasn't a perfect film, but the flaws were minor. It is a film worth seeing at the theater. Particularly the screen consuming fire scenes. 8/10.
