Brave action outpaced by flames Only the Brave (M)
134 mins ★★★ 1⁄2
With a title like this, and a story about a fire-fighting team who risk life and limb to save Arizonan towns from wildfires, it’s surprising quite how often Only the Brave dodges one’s expectations of an overly patriotic, flag-waving tribute to American values.
Based on true events and real people, it could so easily have gone that way but thankfully Only the Brave eschews sentiment and manipulation to deliver a well-acted, informative and ultimately heartfelt movie.
At the same time, while it largely avoids the invitation to sink into cliche´ , Only the Brave also evades expectation by failing to deliver its story at the exciting pace of your traditional disaster/action movie. As Josh Brolin’s ‘‘Supe’’ Eric Marsh leads his crew of uncertified but courageous firefighters through drills and gruelling workouts, the action feels very startstop. Granted, this gives you the perpetual sense that something big is about to happen, which carries you through the long run-time. But because of the dedication to telling the men’s stories authentically (real life doesn’t always play out like an action movie), moments of tension are suddenly resolved or undercut, while personal stories are developed and the plot meanders on.
There’s nothing wrong with this, per se; good films should teach you about things you’ve never considered (like how you have to set fires in order to fight bigger fires) and the best films will draw you into their characters’ lives through performance. The casting here is top-notch: Brolin (Sicario, No Country for Old Men) is as terrific as ever and Jennifer Connelly typically superb as his ambivalently supportive wife. Miles Teller (Whiplash) is strong as the utter loser who morphs into a humble success (though were he not playing a real person this would feel a scripted contrivance).
Joseph Kosinski’s solid direction left me with a similar desire for ‘‘more’’ in Tron: Legacy and the Tom Cruise scifier Oblivion – both boasting a great premise with beautiful production design. Only the Brave tells its tale well enough, but ultimately it’s the flames that move fastest. – Sarah Watt