Only the Brave (2017)

Based on the true story of the Granite Mountain Hotshots, a group of elite firefighters who risk everything to protect a town from a historic wildfire.

Director:

Joseph Kosinski

Writers:

Sean Flynn (based on the GQ article "No Exit" by), Ken Nolan

Stars:

Josh Brolin, Miles Teller, Jeff Bridges

3 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Josh Brolin	...	Eric Marsh
Miles Teller	...	Brendan McDonough
Jeff Bridges	...	Duane Steinbrink
Jennifer Connelly	...	Amanda Marsh
James Badge Dale	...	Jesse Steed
Taylor Kitsch	...	Christopher MacKenzie
Andie MacDowell	...	Marvel Steinbrink
Geoff Stults	...	Travis Turbyfill
Alex Russell	...	Andrew Ashcraft
Thad Luckinbill	...	Scott Norris
Ben Hardy	...	Wade Parker
Scott Haze	...	Clayton Whitted
Jake Picking	...	Anthony Rose
Scott Foxx	...	Travis Carter
Dylan Kenin	...	Robert Caldwell

Storyline

In 2007 Prescott, Arizona, Eric Marsh of the Prescott Fire Department is frustrated fighting forest fires when the Type 1 or "Hotshot" front line forest fire fighting crews from afar overrule his operational suggestions to his area's sorrow. To change that, Marsh gets approval from the Mayor to attempt to organize an unprecedented certified municipal-based Hotshot crew for Prescott. To that end, Marsh needs new recruits, which includes the young wastrel, Brendan McDonough, to undergo the rigorous training and qualification testing for the most dangerous of fire fighting duty. Along the way, the new team meets the challenge and the hailed Granite Mountain Hotshots are born. In doing so, all the men, especially McDonough, are changed as new experience and maturity is achieved in fire-forged camaraderie. All this is put to the test in 2013 with the notorious Yarnell Hill Fire that will demand efforts and sacrifices no one can ignore.

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Plot Keywords:

helicopter | wildfire | baby | firefighter | forest fire | 

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Taglines:

Based on the true story of the Granite Mountain Hotshots.

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Genres:

Action | Biography | Drama

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated PG-13 for thematic content, some sexual references, language and drug material

Details

Official Sites:

Official Facebook Official site [Japan]

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

20 October 2017 (USA)

Also Known As:

Granite Mountain Hotshots

Filming Locations:

Los Alamos, New Mexico, USA

Box Office

Budget:

$38,000,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend USA:

$6,002,665, 22 October 2017, Wide Release

Gross USA:

$18,340,051, 28 January 2018

Company Credits

Production Co:

Black Label Media, Conde Nast Entertainment, Di Bonaventura Pictures

Technical Specs

Runtime:

134 min 118 min (Mainland China Cut Version)

Sound Mix:

Dolby Atmos DTS (DTS: X) SDDS

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.39 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Before Geoff Stults was in this movie as a Granite Mountain Hotshot he also portrayed a fireman on the WB/CW 7th Heaven (1996), in the show's sixth season of 2001-2002.

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Goofs

Further to the helicopter registration comment that US registrations are 5 or fewer characters after the N, the 0 after the N in N0312DF is invalid. The first character after the N (or after NC, NX, etc. for old registrations) must be a digit 1 - 9.

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Quotes

Amanda Marsh: I've had to learn to live my life without needing you, and now you're pissed at me?

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Crazy Credits

The opening logos are tinted a fiery orange.

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Alternate Versions

The film's IMAX release presented the film open-matte, at an aspect ratio of 1.90:1, meaning there was more picture information visible in the top and bottom of the frame than in normal theaters and on home video.

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Connections

Featured in Behind the Song: Hold the Light (2018)

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Soundtracks

Jump in the Fire
Written by James Hetfield, Lars Ulrich and Dave Mustaine
Performed by Metallica
Courtesy of Blackened Recordings, Inc.

User Reviews

A well-told movie about true events.

Only the Brave is a movie directed by Joseph Kosinski and stars Josh Brolin, Miles Teller and Jeff Bridges. The movie is essentially a biography about the the rise of the Granite Mountain Hotshots and how they come together to put their entire lives at risk to protect their town from a dangerous wildfire.

This managed to be a very interesting movie that brings you in very quickly when the movie starts. It is very well acted from beginning to end with interesting characters and motives. It's interesting to see how the members of the Hotshots' lives have changed as the organization forms and grows big. The movie isn't fully character driven, fortunately. The movie does have a large focus on dealing with the area's large wildfires, which are also highly engaging. It's admittedly hard to critique the execution of certain scenes like the firefighting scenes in Only the Brave when it's based on true events. If I would like to point out an issue that I have with the movie, it's that I thought the story structure was a bit all over the place, but again, it's hard to properly critique a biography movie due to the fact that it is based on true events.

8/10