Only the Brave (2017) [Blu-ray]
Biography | Drama

All men are created equal... then, a few become firefighters. Only the Brave, based on the true story of the Granite Mountain Hotshots, is the heroic story of one unit of local firefighters that through hope, determination, sacrifice, and the drive to protect families, communities, and our country become one of the most elite firefighting teams in the country. As most of us run from danger, they run toward it--they watch over our lives, our homes, everything we hold dear, as they forge a unique brotherhood that comes into focus with one fateful fire.

Storyline: In 2007 Prescott, Arizona, Eric Marsh of the Prescott Fire Department is frustrated fighting forest fires when the Type 1 or "Hotshot" front line forest fire fighting crews from afar overrule his operational suggestions to his area's sorrow. To change that, Marsh gets approval from the Mayor to attempt to organize an unprecedented certified municipal-based Hotshot crew for Prescott. To that end, Marsh needs new recruits, which includes the young wastrel, Brendan McDonough, to undergo the rigorous training and qualification testing for the most dangerous of fire fighting duty. Along the way, the new team meets the challenge and the hailed Granite Mountain Hotshots are born. In doing so, all the men, especially McDonough, are changed as new experience and maturity is achieved in fire-forged camaraderie. All this is put to the test in 2013 with the notorious Yarnell Hill Fire that will demand efforts and sacrifices no one can ignore. Written by Kenneth Chisholm (kchishol@rogers.com)

Reviewer's Note: Reviewed by Martin Liebman, January 30, 2018 'Only the Brave' is based on a true story, and discussing the film, its characters, and real life foundation necessitates spoiling the movie.

Only the Brave is a movie about firefighters, but it's not a movie about firefighting. The film tells the story of twenty men, embodied in two, who find purpose and friendship amidst the burning-hot battle zones in which they must rely on one another to survive. They also battle blazes in their own lives, struggling to find meaning beyond their profession, in love, in reconciliation, and self-discovery. It's a film about the fire that burns in men's hearts, that made them heroes in life and in death. The film is based on the true story of the Granite Mountain Hotshots, an elite team of firefighters who lost a battle against nature in the Yarnell Hill Fire in June 2013.

Eric Marsh (Josh Brolin) is a veteran firefighter working out of Prescott, Arizona. He's earned clearance from city officials to train his unit to become certified as "hotshots," elite firefighters who are essentially the Navy SEALs of their profession. But his work consumes him, and it's putting a significant strain on his relationship with his wife, Amanda (Jennifer Connelly). He brings aboard a new trainee, a young man recovering from addiction and seeking direction named Brendan McDonough (Miles Teller), who has found new life with a new daughter and is seeking opportunity to provide for her in a stable setting while giving his life purpose.

Whether one is familiar with the story or not, a sense of doom lingers over the movie, but so too does a sense of hope. The film focuses on two characters, one a veteran of the fire world who finds himself caught between commitment to his profession and the men he leads and an increasingly uncertain future at home with a wife who needs a commitment from him, to choose their love over everything else. The other focal point is a young man, directionless and recovering from addiction, who finds purpose and, gradually, acceptance in family, both with his newborn daughter and her mother as well as the friends and brothers he makes on the team. The film takes its time to construct, explore, and define these characters as men, with finesse, purpose, depth, and tangible realism. The intimate exploration of their lives and, more importantly, their hearts and spirits makes the fire-hot intensity of the film's third act burn all the hotter, hit all the harder, and mean so much more. The third act's perils are underscored by a gentle, almost calming, but at the same time foreboding score that rightly leaves the attention on the men rather than the developing action around, because if there is anything the movie is not, it's not an action film about fighting fires.

The film does require some patience. It's slow to build, effective to be sure and always compelling but the film's tonal subtlety and focus on characters proves dramatically rewarding, anyway, as the film approaches its climax and denouement. Suddenly everything in the film feels rewritten, more purposeful, a true depiction of the uncertainties of life and the importance -- the absolute, unflinching urgency -- to always keep things right, in perspective, to hug tighter, to love harder, to fight every day to be the best one can be. Because it can be over just like that. The film's finale, then, will leave the audience a wreck, grieving, attempting to cope with what's happened, not necessarily why -- the film is never really about what goes right or wrong during a fire fight -- but rather to whom and what it means to love and sacrifice. The performances are equal to the task of building the characters and the movie with remarkable depth and real-life transparency. Miles Teller is particularly wonderful as one of the most transformative individuals ever explored in film. His is remarkably well realized character growth, depicting the evolution of a man who suddenly finds purpose in life in his daughter and gradually finds purpose in life alongside his new brothers on the team. Josh Brolin and Jennifer Connelly shine as a middle aged couple struggling to sort out their love and align their priorities.

"Powerful" is an overused word that's bandied about in response to a number of films, but it seems appropriate in summation of Only the Brave. The film does justice to and honors those who lost their lives. It can't possibly focus on all twenty men in just over two hours, but it still builds a sense of camaraderie amongst them, essentially making them one rather than a collection of individuals, and chooses to contextualize their humanity in the dueling stories of Eric Marsh and Brendan McDonough. The film is never about fire but instead men building their commitment, friendship, and loves against a backdrop of danger and pending disaster. It is indeed a powerful, unforgettable experience, not necessarily unique to cinema in that respect but nevertheless one of the most honest and complete depictions of man and heroism one is going to find in the medium. Sony's Blu-ray delivers top-notch video and audio with only minor drawbacks. The included supplemental content nicely compliments the film. Only the Brave may not hold replay value in the traditional sense of a more entertainment oriented cinema venture, but it's a movie that everyone should see. Only the Brave earns my highest recommendation.

[CSW] -1.8- I knew that the main part of the story wound involve character development but it took too long and got into meaningless details that made the story drag out far too long. I was expecting a concise answer as to what went wrong other than the wind picked up and shifted. They also made aerial firefighting look pretty bad and placed part of the blame on them with no explanation for why there was such poor communication between the ground crew and the aerial crew. I know that they wanted to show what the elite crews had to accomplish and how they accomplished it but that part just didn't come through although they did show the ferocity of the fire in a few scenes. Leaving out the unneeded character development this two and a quarter hour movie could have been condensed into a little over thirty minutes. Good acting and good but unnecessary character development don't make up for not having a concise story.
[V4.5-A4.5] MPEG-4 AVC - No D-Box


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