Review of Only the Brave (2017) by Nick F — 05 Feb 2018

It is difficult to give this movie a bad review, given the nature of the film and the catastrophic true-story that it is based off of. As a sensitive subject, a respectful story should be told, and my heart goes out to those who lost their lives and to their families. However, I found this movie to be overbearing with a sort of patriotic chauvinism to depict wildland firefighters as heroic cowboys, where the sensationalism of this career was more of a focus in this movie than the real-world, physical and tactical challenges that make this career so intriguing.

In addition to this, the cinematography that was used for the wildfires was O.K. at best, but very disappointing to eyes that have seen true wildfires. It seems to me that this movie could have been done much better in regards to wildfire behavior, climate change, and forest management but was undercut in potential to gush out a "hero" story, that in the end, felt more like patronizing.