Review of Only the Brave (2017) by Orlando O — 20 Oct 2017

Only the Brave is a great emotionally driven drama film about the Granite Mountain Hotshots firefighting crew that battled the Yarnell Hill fire. Well, the film is great. Director Joseph Kosinski did a great job in keeping up the pace from the intense fire battle sequences. Joseph Kosinski tackled the big budget visual effects flicks like Tron Legacy and Oblivion. Seeing him take on a smaller budget drama film was well handled.

The film follows Eric (Josh Brolin) who is trying to get a crew of firefighters together. He convinces the town mayor to help get them evaluated. He recruits a young pothead Donut (Miles Teller), who gets high all day and finds out his ex girlfriend is pregnant. Then, there is Eric's former crew of Jesse (James Badge Dale) and Chris (Taylor Kitsch). Donut is trying to take responsibility and wants to better himself by supporting his girlfriend by giving her baby supplies with the money he makes. Meanwhile, Eric's wife Amanda (Jennifer Connelly) has been struggling with their marriage, as she wants a family. But Eric is too focused on his fire crew and away all the time battling fires. But the event that will test them is when a wildfire in Yarnell storms out of control.

It is a great film. Yes, if you know the story you will know how it will end. But the build up with every character that are so distinct from each other. Seeing them bond and form a family friendship is what hits really hard with the film. You see rivals form a brotherhood friendship. Characters making a life changing decisions to better themselves. The character development is well done in the film. The plot is one of those inspirational stories of seeing these heroic firefighters crew battling through hell with these wildfires. They are like the brute force that goes in with only certain amount of gear with their chainsaws, digging tools, and their safety gear.

It has a huge cast ensemble. I am sure, there are familiar faces with the fire crew and some that wont have enough screen time. Josh Brolin, Miles Teller, James Badge Dale, Taylor Kitsch, and Jennifer Connelly all did great.

The director managed to keep the intensity on the fire sequences. When the climax arrives. The ending does become a little emotionally difficult to watch. But it does pay a great tribute to the hardworking firefighters that battled the Yarnell fire and all the firefighters around the world.

Overall, Only the Brave is a great drama action film. The cast ensemble was great. The plot and characters were great and inspirational. It was never slow or boring. The direction was great as it captured the intensity of these fire crew battling with the wildfires.

I rate the film 5 out of 5 stars. I definitely recommend seeing the film on the big screen.