159.
Only the brave
8.5/10
This movie is based on the true events of a group of elite firefighters, who risk their own lives in order to protect a town from a massive wildfire. In 2013, they fought their biggest fire yet, that would be everything would be on the line, but building up to that, we will be getting introduced to the team and how they changed through their years of the service. I didn't know about this story before going into the movie, but it is unprecedented, even in the last 6 months, how bad these forest fires in American can truly be. With a cast containing Josh Brolin, Miles Teller and Jennifer Connelly, I'm sure that this movie will give a great account of the events which unfolded.
The movie starts with what seems to be a dream sequence, as there is very little sound but a forest, being over taken by a fire, as we see a bear being created from the flames and running through, towards the camera. Could this resemble how fierce it truly is? As the bear runs past, Eric Marsh, Brolin's character, wakes and begins to get his stuff ready for the day at the local wildfire crew. He is the superintendent and has been called to stop a fire near Phoenix. In the kitchen, his wife, Connelly's character, reminds him of a fight the night before, giving the audience and account that there is trouble at home. His crew is only second level, meaning that they cannot fight on the front line of the fire. He must instead command his team to dig holes and burn bushes to slow the fire down, as a 'hotshot' team arrives to do the harder stuff. He offers them advice, which they don't take and instead insult them all. Without his advice, the town near by ends up in flames and everyone is left trying to escape.
After the event, Eric calls his friend Duane, played by Jeff Bridges, who was once a former fire chief. This guy holds the power to help Eric's team become hotshots. At this point we are introduced to Miles Teller's character, Brendan, who is sitting on his friend's couch smoking the hard drugs, whilst being told that he has a baby on the way through text message. He heads to the place that the girl works in and she seems away from the life of drugs and even though he offers to help, she doesn't believe him at all. She doesn't even want him around. As he walks away, downbeat, he sees an open car, with a decent stereo inside and tried to steal it whilst being watched by the police. Who arrest him and he is released on bail by his mother, who subsequently kicks him out of the house.
He decides that he needs to sort his life out and heads to the fire crew's house to apply. He is recognised by one of the fighters, who knows he is a screw-up, so sends him away. That's before Eric walks out of his office and calls Brendan in to apply anyway. He is honest about his record and his intentions for going the crew, so Eric invites him on a run with the crew, to see if he can keep up with them all, to the summit and back. At the top, Eric tells the crew what they are getting themselves into once they apply for being 'hotshots', whilst Brendan still hasn't made it to the top. They even pass him going up, on their way down and back at the station, Eric asks one of the fighters if the guy is dead on the hill. Too their surprise, they see him slowly jogging into the car park, sunburnt and phone in hand, showing a photo of him at the summit. Duane then shows up to let the team know that they have an audition to become what they want. During the audition, they decide to fight a fire that the auditor questions and it is on Eric's head. Even after sticking to his guns and it working, he is worried that he has upset the auditor. Duane strolls into the station with a stern look, as Eric demands that the team cover up, which they would do in an emergency, laying on the floor in protective bags. At this time, he tells them all that they have been accepted as 'Hotshots'. The celebrate with a BBQ and call themselves the Granite Mountain Hotshots.
As the story progresses, we see the team fighting fires, as Brendan takes bags of essentials over to leave on his baby mama's doorstep. After a few times, she lets him meet the baby and he apologises for his past mistakes. Whilst the team are away, Eric's wife gets into a bad car crash, which she doesn't tell him about until he gets home and sees the car. He is angry about this but she counters him, explain that he is not around enough. Her main problem is that she wants to start a family but he tells her that their deal was no kids. Maybe with his job, he is too frightened to leave a family behind. We also find out that Eric and Amanda are both recovering addicts and this is one of the main reasons behind him taking a chance with Brendan, who has finally become accepted within the team. With this and being closer to his daughter now, he takes the chance to ask Eric about a recommendation to leave the frontline and change to a structural firefighter, in order to be home that bit more. Eric doesn't like this, feeling he is owed something for giving Brendan the chance. On the way home, Amanda and Eric are fighting and she reveals that he isn't thinking reasonably with Brendan, because of his own issues. She screams that she is losing him to the fires and she wants to start a family with him, once again. He walks away from the car, all the way to Duane's house and discusses the issues with him, leading him back home to tell his wife that she has him back. You just know that if this was a movie, he would end up doing one more job and not coming home. Can this happen in real life too?
As the team head to a fire near Yarnell, Eric tells his second in command about his decision to step down and on arrival they realise that the fire is a lot bigger than they anticipated. The head off to do a burn, to slow everything down, but a water plane shoots water on their location, ruining their plans anyway. As the flames spread more, Brendan is sent to a weather watch and the team begin another dig line in order to stop the fire once more. Brendan gets on the radio to tell them that the wind has changed and the flames are heading towards them at a quick rate. He gets away from his spot, just in time and its mental, as you watch, how quick this fire is moving. Brendan is in trouble and out of the flames comes a different guy from another team who drives a golf buggy and takes him to safety. He can hear on his radio, back at camp, the 19 other guys in his team are burning the brush around them to create a safer area that the fire won't burn too much around them. The put their covers on and lay on the ground, hoping that the fire passes quickly and they manage to escape it. With his, all we can hear is depleting talk, as Eric remembers that bear, which is a flashback from a fire he was in before and an actual bear was on fire running for safety. Brendan listens as his team and friends are burnt alive. He knows that he should have been with them but he got out after being sent to check on the weather. The movie changes to Eric's house, as his wife gets the news of her loss. She screams and collapses to the ground, knowing this was one fire too much. She is never going to get the family time she once longed for. The families are gathered in a school gym and are told that there is one survivor. We know who it is but as Brendan walks in, the girlfriends, wives and parents break down, knowing that they have lost their loved ones. Brendan can't face it and walks out, as Amanda chases him, telling him she is glad he made it out and he has no reason to feel guilty. The movie ends with the pictures, names and ages of the real men, side by side with the ones who played them within the movie. That is along with a group picture in front of a famous tree, which the team saved and recreated in the picture. Suddenly I find myself trying to keep my shit together.
The movie was a real awe inspiring, edge of the seat and tear-jerking couple of hours. It was a real-life story that, at times, were not true to the real events in how they were spaced out, such as personal moments happened weeks before the deaths, regarding Eric and Amanda's arguments. Rattlesnake bites and other little bits were added for tension but mostly, they events were down to a tee. This goes for their final moments too, apart from how they broke the news to the families, who had to hear in a more media crazed way and too public for their own liking. Overall, this movie was a great watch and insight into what these people put on the line in order to save other families. It was a joke that there wasn't more people in the cinema to watch this and instead they can pack out for less, worse and films that are a complete joke. Every one of the actors involved gave a great performance and the ending, along with the music, giving a real picture of each 'Hotshot', alongside the actor and actress that portrayed them, was a real hard moment to watch. I couldn't recommend this movie enough if you can catch it somewhere.
As the team head to a fire near Yarnell, Eric tells his second in command about his decision to step down and on arrival they realise that the fire is a lot bigger than they anticipated. The head off to do a burn, to slow everything down, but a water plane shoots water on their location, ruining their plans anyway. As the flames spread more, Brendan is sent to a weather watch and the team begin another dig line in order to stop the fire once more. Brendan gets on the radio to tell them that the wind has changed and the flames are heading towards them at a quick rate. He gets away from his spot, just in time and its mental, as you watch, how quick this fire is moving. Brendan is in trouble and out of the flames comes a different guy from another team who drives a golf buggy and takes him to safety. He can hear on his radio, back at camp, the 19 other guys in his team are burning the brush around them to create a safer area that the fire won't burn too much around them. The put their covers on and lay on the ground, hoping that the fire passes quickly and they manage to escape it. With his, all we can hear is depleting talk, as Eric remembers that bear, which is a flashback from a fire he was in before and an actual bear was on fire running for safety. Brendan listens as his team and friends are burnt alive. He knows that he should have been with them but he got out after being sent to check on the weather. The movie changes to Eric's house, as his wife gets the news of her loss. She screams and collapses to the ground, knowing this was one fire too much. She is never going to get the family time she once longed for. The families are gathered in a school gym and are told that there is one survivor. We know who it is but as Brendan walks in, the girlfriends, wives and parents break down, knowing that they have lost their loved ones. Brendan can't face it and walks out, as Amanda chases him, telling him she is glad he made it out and he has no reason to feel guilty. The movie ends with the pictures, names and ages of the real men, side by side with the ones who played them within the movie. That is along with a group picture in front of a famous tree, which the team saved and recreated in the picture. Suddenly I find myself trying to keep my shit together.
The movie was a real awe inspiring, edge of the seat and tear-jerking couple of hours. It was a real-life story that, at times, were not true to the real events in how they were spaced out, such as personal moments happened weeks before the deaths, regarding Eric and Amanda's arguments. Rattlesnake bites and other little bits were added for tension but mostly, they events were down to a tee. This goes for their final moments too, apart from how they broke the news to the families, who had to hear in a more media crazed way and too public for their own liking. Overall, this movie was a great watch and insight into what these people put on the line in order to save other families. It was a joke that there wasn't more people in the cinema to watch this and instead they can pack out for less, worse and films that are a complete joke. Every one of the actors involved gave a great performance and the ending, along with the music, giving a real picture of each 'Hotshot', alongside the actor and actress that portrayed them, was a real hard moment to watch. I couldn't recommend this movie enough if you can catch it somewhere.
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