Four stars. Rated PG-13, for dramatic intensity, occasional profanity, mild sensuality and fleeting drug use
By Derrick Bang • Originally published in The Davis Enterprise, 10.20.17
Everything that makes this
fact-based drama compelling — and its qualities are many — also will make it a very difficult experience for Northern
California viewers.
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| Having helped to establish a "border" by digging trenches, cutting back small trees and shrubs, and lighting controlled back burns, Brendan (Miles Teller, left) and Christopher (Taylor Kitsch) wait to see if their efforts will help diminish an expanding wildfire. |
Serendipity is a curious beast,
particularly when cinema collides with the real world. The China Syndrome was disparaged as alarmist fantasy when released
on March 16, 1979; twelve days later, the film proved eerily prophetic when
Pennsylvania’s Dauphin County experienced its Three Mile Island nuclear
accident.
Similarly, the folks at
Sony/Columbia couldn’t have known, when they scheduled Only the Brave for release today, that California still would be
struggling to contain the worst and deadliest series of firestorms in state
history. Director Joseph Kosinski and scripters Ken Nolan and Eric Warren
Singer simply wished to venerate the Granite Mountain Hotshots, whose heroic
efforts to battle Arizona’s Yarnell Hill Fire made headlines in late June 2013.
The filmmakers achieved that
goal. Only the Brave is intelligently
scripted, persuasively acted, and sensitively directed: a thoroughly engaging
example of heartstring-tugging melodrama. The gripping narrative blends angst,
suspense and humor with a spirit of comradely bonding that succeeds because of
the care with which the actors tackle their parts.
Numerous characters populate this
story, all of them depicted as distinct individuals: a rare thing, when so many
high-profile Hollywood projects feature a few stars who overshadow
one-dimensional supporting players, who do little but take up space.
At its core, this is a war movie:
Instead of man against man, it’s man against nature. Josh Brolin’s Eric Marsh
has a telling line, early on, when he leads his team to a mountaintop forest
overlook, and encourages the newest recruits to savor the view in the manner of
civilian innocents, who admires the majestic ocean of gently swaying green.
Because after having endured a
battle against flame, Marsh warns, the next time “You’ll only see fuel.”
