Only the Brave (2017)
Directed by Joseph Kosinski
Members of the Granite Mountain Hotshots battle deadly wildfires to save an Arizona town.
18 connections found
View:
18 films that influenced Only the Brave
What critics say influenced Only the Brave
“Only the Brave” is the forest-fire equivalent of its urban cousin, 1991’s “Backdraft.”
Director Joseph Kosinski avoided many possibly pitfalls, such as making firefighters seem like superheroes in the manner of "Backdraft," hailing them as saints or dwelling on their deaths and the aftermath.
Joseph Kosinski’s Only the Brave blends the real-life story of the Granite Mountain Hotshots with the drama of fictional firefighter narratives like Backdraft and Ladder 49 to make what feels like Lone Survivor: Firefighter Edition.
I’ll admit, I haven’t seen any firefighter films since Backdraft, which was about a crew on the trail of a serial arsonist.
It’s also as gripping as Backdraft or an infinitely smarter The Towering Inferno.
Based on a GQ article by Sean Flynn and directed by Joseph Kosinski (TRON: Legacy, Oblivion, and the upcoming Top Gun sequel), the film’s first hour or so is more about the group getting certified to be something more than backup for other Hotshots teams.
This movie gives one high hopes for Tom Cruise’s 2019 Top Gun sequel , rumored to be directed by Only the Brave’s Joseph Kosinski.
Top Gun and Point Break , for instance, are driven by a wonderful homosociality that has garnered them classic status.
A sort of “Top Gun” for firefighters ensues as the Granite Mountain crew fights for certification, bonds with each other at barbecues and participates in myriad hazing rituals.
There’s a Howard Hawks-ian brio to director Joseph Kosinski’s Only The Brave, a relaxed, no-muss-no-fuss camaraderie of stoic men doing their jobs that in its best moments reminded me of Red River or Only Angels Have Wings.
There’s a Howard Hawks-ian brio to director Joseph Kosinski’s Only The Brave, a relaxed, no-muss-no-fuss camaraderie of stoic men doing their jobs that in its best moments reminded me of Red River or Only Angels Have Wings.
Advertisement
As with Richard Gere in An Officer and a Gentleman , Donut -- his nickname -- has nowhere else to go.
But screenwriters Ken Nolan (“Black Hawk Down”) and Eric Warren Singer (“American Hustle”), using Sean Flynn’s GQ article “No Exit” as an outline, find compelling counterpoints by focusing on those two.
It’s tricky to keep all the Hotshots in focus, but the first-rate screenplay by Ken Nolan and Eric Warren Singer does pretty well, reflecting their respective expertise in carving pulse-pounding art out of real lives in Black Hawk Down and American Hustle.
It’s also as gripping as Backdraft or an infinitely smarter The Towering Inferno.
(For examples, check out Laura Linney in Sully, Sienna Miller in American Sniper, and Robin Wright—opposite Josh Brolin, funnily enough—in Everest.)
What the filmmakers wanted was an American Sniper without the political divisiveness, a movie that genuinely honors the virtue of the rough men who made up the Granite Mountain crew.
Even when that form of macho patriotism is successful like American Sniper, it becomes the center of heated debate.
Advertisement
Joseph Kosinski’s Only the Brave blends the real-life story of the Granite Mountain Hotshots with the drama of fictional firefighter narratives like Backdraft and Ladder 49 to make what feels like Lone Survivor: Firefighter Edition.
Top Gun and Point Break , for instance, are driven by a wonderful homosociality that has garnered them classic status.