By Emilio Frenk.
Director: Joseph Kosinski
Cast: Josh Brolin, Miles Teller, Jeff Bridges, Andie MacDowell, James Badge Dale, Geoff Stults, Alex Russell, Thad Luckinbill, Ben Hardy, Scott Haze, Jake Picking, Scott Fox, Dylan Kenin, Taylor Kitsch and Jennifer Connelly.
Rating: Very Good.
Joseph Kosinski, director of “Tron: Legacy” and “Oblivion” brings “Only The Brave”, his third film under his belt and delivers a very good movie.
Based on true events from the article “No Exit” by GQ Magazine the movie tells the story of Eric Marsh (Josh Brolin) a local firefighter from Arizona that recruits an elite group of men that risk their lives to protect their town from any fires.
They will call themselves “The Granite Mountain Hotshots”. This is a story of courage and how they risk their lives on “The Yarnell Fire”, which is considered one of the most deadly in American History.
“Only The Brave” is a good acting movie and this is thanks to the directing of Joseph Kosinski. Here Kosinski showed men that have all levels of conflict but at the same time as a member of an audience you fill for them at all times.
One very good performance of this movie besides Josh Brolin and Jeff Bridges is Miles Teller. I liked the way he performed a character that was a slacker and his arc works at all levels.
Teller is an actor that has had some up´s and down´s in his career but when he portrays characters like in this film, indeed he can deliver. This proof has been since 2014´s “Whiplash” which till this day was the movie that launched his career.
The screenplay by both Ken Nolan and Eric Warren Singer gets a lot into detail and honestly I didn´t had any idea of what this movie was going to be about.
I never heard of this group of really brave men and the way how the story was brought to the screen was remarkable.
Seeing it from the trailers back in September, I was very skeptical towards the movie and I had serious prejudgments towards it. I thought that it was going to be the typical cliché movie that we have seen before, but this was not the case.
Yes, there are some cliché moments but they didn´t bother me at all and I was very surprised with this film.
I still believe the movie could have had a shorter length but I understand why Joseph Kosinski decided to be this way and it was the correct way.
I liked the fact that there wasn´t too much backstory in the characters which can damage a movie if you reveal to much and this was of course thank to the smart writing that was involved.
“Only The Brave” is a movie that it should be an example for people who risk their lives when they are on duty and is inspiring.
It´s a very well acted movie, very well edited and Kosinski brought a fantastic direction towards it.
“Only The Brave” is one big surprise and I highly recommend it.