I didn't know that there was such a thing as a Hotshot before I watched this film. Taking a look at the premise of Only the Brave, I unfortunately knew how it was going to end. However, that did not hinder the quality of the film. I was blown away by Only the Brave, because it took a little known tragic event and made it one of the best character-driven and emotional films ever.
The characters in this film are nothing short of perfect, and the casting was spot-on. Josh Brolin gave the best performance I've ever seen from him. Miles Teller, Taylor Kitsch, James Badge Dale and Jeff Bridges were also flawless, and completely dissolved in their characters. And Jennifer Connelly is back!
Anyway, Back to the characters. All of them have qualities the audience can relate to. Any clichéd dialogue or events that occur are pure human moments, and don't feel out of place or too predictable. Brolin and Teller's characters have true arcs, and are fleshed out extremely well. My point is, you CARE about these characters and sitting in the theater, you feel like you are with them doing this incredibly dangerous yet heroic job that adds a whole other level to this story about them.
As the film progresses, we start to see that Teller has his own subplot trying to connect with his new family. At first I was skeptical about this and wondered why this character was getting way more screen time than the other members of the crew, and why he had his own backstory. This works for the film all because of the resolution. I will explain this later.
The visual storytelling in this movie was phenomenal, because we see how mighty and powerful these forest fires are, and truly realize how brave these men are, getting so close to the fire. Even though we do not individually know all 20 members of the crew, because that would obviously take too long to go into full detail on, we still connect with all members of the Granite Mountain Hotshots watching them work, interact, and celebrate. Two thirds into the movie, we are aware that they are all heroes, and therefore people we care about. The film realized this concept excellently, and added so much to the emotional side of the story. And oh boy, did I feel some emotions towards the end of this film.
Watching the incredible visual effects, and listening to dialogue throughout the movie, I knew something bad was bound to happen. The Yarnell Hill Fire happened. 19 of 20 Granite Mountain Hotshots died. Deadliest wildfire since 1991. One single lightning strike caused all this havoc. It's cruel. Here's what this film presented:
It's the night before the fire. Brolin is angry at Teller for wanting to leave the crew so he can feel safer and be closer to his family. Brolin goes home with his wife, they connect, and he realizes what a dick he was to Teller. Now we're in the Yarnell Hill Fire, and right before Brolin assigns Teller to lookout, he redeems their relationship and says he will support Teller's family in any way and respect whatever decision he makes. Thus, Brolin's arc is complete. Then over the next 15 minutes, some unfortunate events lead to a windy storm coming in, Teller barely being rescued, and the fire overruns and kills the other 19 members of the crew. Once Teller realizes this, he drops the phone, and you can feel the pain his character is experiencing at this moment. Fast forward to the scene of all the families of the Hotshots, knowing that only one of those families is going to be relieved when Teller walks through the door. At this point, I'm tearing up. After Teller reveals that he is alive, and he looks around the room, and he storms out, and Jennifer Connelly confronts him, I start tearing up again. We all deal with unjustified guilt in our lives, but I've never seen a scene in a film that dealt with that theme so brilliantly.
I felt so emotional at that moment because I spent an entire film watching real people develop into uncompromising heroes. The sudden death of these men led to not only Teller's character feeling guilty, but us audience members as well. And in realizing that our guilt is completely unjustified, we feel an emotional connection with everyone still in the picture. We learn that only the bravest men can be Hotshots, and they are not afraid of any tragedies that may occur. And in this moment, we know that these men should deserve our fullest amount of respect, for they have saved countless lives and are the actual heroes we all dream of becoming.
What made this heartbreaking ending scene work was that we were given an entire subplot devoted to Miles Teller's character. Since he is the only one of the crew who survived the event, this section of the film pays off. Based on his arc throughout the film, we know he will feel the guiltiest because his life leading up to this was probably very different than the other crew members. And having seen his journey unfold, we know he will feel the most guilt about the tragedy. Because of this, we can see all the families in one place and still feel the same emotions as if every Hotshot member's family life was fleshed out with their own subplot. We still connect with these other families we know nothing about. This is very hard to do, but the filmmakers knew exactly how to pull it off, and I must give it my highest praise for that.
This film connected with me on a deeply emotional level, and I hope it does for many others as well. Everybody should see this film, it is one of the best of the year.
10/10!
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