Only the Brave - Review
This review of Only the Brave is spoiler-free!
How do you define brotherhood? To me, brotherhood is a group of friends that support each other through thick and thin. Sometimes this bond is built up through trial and error, whether that be infighting between people resulting in a connection between people, or overall growth and support between each other, brotherhood plays a major part in a lot of peoples lives. Thinking about my life as a person, my friends are the brotherhood in my own life. Only The Brave tackles the heartbreaking story of the Granite Mountain Hotshots and the brotherly bond between each and every member of their crew. Well, I think that's enough time spent talking about brotherhood, don't you? Lets dive into the story of Only The Brave!
As I stated above, Only the Brave follows the story of the Granite Mountain Hotshots. From the beginning, the Granite Mountain team is actually considered a second unit, not being directly in the face of the fire. After finally getting the chance to become a Hotshot unit (the units that face the fire directly), they show their prowess and are given the designation. From there they embark on a journey through fire across the country in order to show their worthiness. All of their work comes together and is brought to the table when the Yarnell Fire hits Arizona. For me, Only the Brave works o well because it focuses in on the development of the unit as friends and brothers. We have people from all different walks of life coming together to face these fires and building a strong bond. Only the Brave absolutely nails that focus on brotherhood that this story needs to tell in order to honor the true Hotshots.
In general, this film follows a lot of people but the two that I feel need to be focused in on are Josh Brolin's Eric "Supe" Marsh and Miles Teller's Brendan "Donut" McDonough. For a larger majority of the story, these two men feel like completely different people. Brolin's Marsh is one of the shining spots of the film, being the tough love style leader of the Granite Mountain Hotshots. In most roles, I find Brolin to play the same style of character, but here he's given the opportunity to work in a role that stretches his range a bit and forces him to pull more emotion. Along with this, his chemistry with the entirety of the Hotshots team is stellar, and something to be praised.
Looking at the other main character of this story, in my opinion, "Donut" is a man with a complicated past who is just looking to make a change in his life. Coming from a life of drugs and wrongdoing, he finds out that he has a child on the way. This results in a change of heart for "Donut" and we can sense this change in Teller's great acting. I've said before and I will continue to state that I believe Teller is one of the best young actors in Hollywood because of the commitment to the roles he plays. Of all the characters in this film, he's the one with the most focus and for good reason. His relationship with Marsh is actually one of the quietly best parts of the film. I say quietly because the film manages to push this story to the side in favor of the overall arch, but brings it up subtlety throughout the film. That's a sign of good storytelling, building a secondary story within the main story and making it something for audiences to care about.
Speaking of the main arc, there's a lot to be said for the overall message and theme of Only the Brave. It shouldn't take a rocket scientist to realize that the major theme of this film is brotherhood and building bonds with others. This is a film about a group of men who came together as strangers and learned to work together and ultimately become friends and brothers within their fire fighting. A lot of films attempt to try and build up this idea of mutual connection between people, but for me it takes more than just throwing characters on screen that are supposed to have a friendly bond to succeed in making it a great storytelling technique. Only the Brave manages to do this excellently, and I praise the writers and directors for doing so.
For those who do not know, or didn't pick it up from the opening paragraph, the Granite Mountain Hotshots were a real group of fire fighters. For me, this story does those who lost their lives a great honor. These were great men who did great work for their families and the people around them. Honoring these men with a film that holds no punches was the best choice in doing this. With great work from some of the top actors in Hollywood, the film also manages to be more than just a tribute, it's a great film as a whole. Reflecting on Only the Brave, I'm happy to say this film is special. For those who love a story of a heartwarming truth, Only the Brave will satisfy your needs. It also happens to be a powerful story of the bond between brothers in the face of overwhelming odds. And thankfully, this film honors the memory of those who gave their lives for the lives of others.
9.25/10
Apologies if this review is a bit all of the place, this review took place over multiple days, tomorrow we'll be back with more concise work!
