ONLY THE BRAVE (2017) – Review

Here’s yet another “inspired by true events” film , just in time for the somber Fall season. Somber, the right word for this one. Unlike this weekend’s other non-fiction flicks, it’s set in the not too distant past, not decades ago, but in this decade, the 2010’s. It concerns a group of men who regularly risk their lives, and often make the ultimate sacrifice, in order to protect their fellow men. And it shines a light on the families that must stay behind and hope that all goes well. You may be thinking that’s it’s another those on the front line, our soldiers overseas sagas as in the films THE HURT LOCKER and AMERICAN SNIPER. Well, these heroes aren’t on foreign soil, though they are on the front line, one made of flame. And with their special clothing and gear ,they could be mistaken for soldiers. Rather they are firefighters, but they aren’t roaring down the street on a fire truck, dalmatian in tow, ready to climb the ladder to a “towering inferno”. These guys fight the fires that consume forests, hoping to stop their journey before the flames reach the towns and cities. Such is the mission of the Granite Mountain Hotshots from the Prescott Arizona Fire Department. ONLY THE BRAVE fill their ranks.

Nearly ten years ago, Eric Marsh (Josh Brolin) bolts upright in bed after a nightmare. It’s the usual scenario that involves a charging bear on fire, an “ursine torch”. For his wife, horse trainer Amanda (Jennifer Connelly), this is fairly common. He then leaves for work as the captain to a squad of firefighters, a hand crew that goes into to stop wildfires, who report to the Fire Chief Duane Steinbrink (Jeff Bridges). They do the “grunt ” work and the prep for nearby towns. But Marsh wants his crew to become officially accredited by the state of Arizona, to become “hotshots”. But he needs to beef up their ranks, so he begins interviews and try outs. One hopeful is Brendan McDononugh (Miles Teller), a directionless twenty-something who retreated to the bottle and the bong after flunking out of some training courses. He’s just found out that a former fling is pregnant with his child, which spurs him to get his “act” together. After surviving an arduous hike, Marsh decides to take a chance on Brendan. As the months past, he rises to the challenge and even bonds with a former tormentor, Christopher (Taylor Kitsch). Eventually the team earns their accreditation, and Eric dubs them the Granite Mountain Hotshots. They become a proficient, well-oiled machine, starting controlled fires to stop the approaching flames while digging trenches to contain the spread. This leads up to a fateful day in June of 2013 when the Hotshots are called in to stop a lightning fire at Yarnell Hill. This routine assignment soon becomes a desperate fight for survival.

With his squinty gaze and stern growl, Brolin is a leader of men in the Clint Eastwood/ Kurt Russell mold (almost a brother to Kurt’s DEEPWATER HORIZON role). He’s tough, but he’s got a soft spot for lost causes, which would aptly describe Teller’s Brendan when we first meet him. Much like his roles in WHIPLASH and BLEED FOR THIS, Teller’s Brendan is another fella’ full of determination, though here we see a bit of his tender side as he tries to be a good father to his unexpected arrival. And there’s quite a father/son bond between his character and Marsh (we never see Brendan’s pop, only his ma’). The mother to all the crew may be Connelly’s Amanda who goes toe-to-toe with Eric while fighting despair as he trudges off in his gear, perhaps never to return. I suppose this would make Bridges the grandfather-figure, full of support and encouragement, trying to calm Eric’s frustrations. And Bridges gets to indulge in the drawling, “chaw-filled”, jaw-jutting delivery that we’ve seen many, many times ( TRUE GRIT, HELL OR HIGH WATER, R.I.P.D). His anchor at home is the criminally underused Andie MacDowell, so fiesty and funny (and sexy) in MAGIC MIKE XXL, but here regulated to comforting Connelly and being a sounding board for Bridges. Among the assorted fire house “beefcake”, James Badge Dale is a most able second-in command, while Kitsch as plenty a good ole’ boy charisma as the “heart of gold” Christopher.

The fire fighting profession hasn’t been exploited often by the movies, despite the compelling cinematic nature of the raging flames, here a destructive charging beast. Of course, film buffs will harken back to Ron Howard’s BACKDRAFT (though there’s no arson mystery here) or that all-star disaster epic that was producer Irwin Allen’s THE TOWERING INFERNO. But the whole Eric/Brendan theme reminded me of the near 50 year-old HELLFIGHTERS with John Wayne (yeah, the Duke) working with the cocky Jim Hutton. So why isn’t this flick as exciting as those earlier entries? Perhaps it’s because director Joseph Kosinski (OBLIVION) keeps hammering in the symbolism of that burning bear (three times). Or maybe it’s because the script by Ken Nolan and Eric Warren Singer (based on the GQ magazine article by Sean Flynn) spends far too much time on domestic drama and not enough on the fiery fields. They even resort to some clunky “two men and a baby” hijinks at one point. Plus the big verbal throw-down between Eric and Amanda doesn’t ring true (angry because he’s not starting a family with her) and feels more than a tad sexist. This leaves only about 20 minutes of the 133 minute running time for actually fighting fires. The story of the “screw-up” who redeems himself to the guys has been a cliché in war flicks for years (I almost expected one of the crew to be nicknamed “Brooklyn”). The men portrayed are real heroes, true lifesavers who deserved a better celebration and tribute than this lackluster and tedious tale. ONLY THE BRAVE just has little spark.

2 Out of 5