Through hope, determination, sacrifice and the drive to protect families and communities, the Granite Mountain Hotshots become one of the most elite firefighting teams in the country. While most people run from danger, they run toward it -- watching over lives, homes and everything people hold dear, forging a unique brotherhood that comes into focus with one fateful fire in Yarnell, Ariz.
Only The Brave squanders any potential to say something profound by getting caught up in regurgitating a flaccid story about heroism that we've been spoonfed since Sept. 11, 2001.
Though the movie, based on an article in GQ, by Sean Flynn, offers fascinating insights into the practical exertions and bureaucratic complications of firefighting, it places much greater emphasis on the protagonists' personal lives.
Director Joseph Kosinski puts the brotherhood of the unit front and center, emphasizing the bonds forged over sweat and soot. He directs with a sense of duty to honor the crew, and he does the job.
... the memory of the event provides emotional ballast to the formulaic fare, and Only the Brave bests its Hollywood creation to become a heartfelt tribute, yee-hawing bro pranks and all.
Kosinski lets the story unfold at a measured pace - so much so that by the time we reach the climactic scene, we're unprepared for what unfolds. As a result, it's even more devastating and effective.
It's a movie intent on telling us the hotshots were heroes, without sufficiently dramatizing either their professional decisions or their private lives.
The film also serves to highlight the dearth of such films in Australia. It's not as though there aren't similar heroes to celebrate, yet the persistence of cultural cringe seems to prevent local filmmakers from producing films such as Only the Brave.
Only the Brave feels like a film that would have made sense coming from Peter Berg or Michael Bay, but Kosinski mostly pulls back on the macho cheerleading to find something more objective, and ultimately, deeply emotional.
