
These controlled burns create a control line that the advancing fire cannot cross.īefore joining the Granite Mountain Hotshots, had Brendan McDonough really been a druggie petty criminal with a child on the way? A hotshot contains an inferno buy using fire to burn a line through the fire's fuel path. Normal municipal firefighters put out fires with water, which often includes things like building fires and house fires. I was particularly impressed by some of the many supporting players, including James Badge Dale and a surprisingly funny, unhinged performance by Taylor Kitsch, both as firefighters who also like to play pranks (between fires) on the rookie McDonough.A "hotshot" is a firefighter who fights fires with fire instead of water. After that first hour of training, we have a fully certified team ready to take the lead on some very serious wildfires. The only spouse character who gets any real screen time is Marsh’s wife Amanda (Jennifer Connelly), whose primary use is to provide a distraction for Marsh by declaring that she now wants kids when once she did not.Īlso on hand is Duane Steinbrink (Jeff Bridges), the team’s link to the local government, who convinces the town mayor that getting the Hotshots certified is a great move for the community. We see the men at work and at play, together and with their families.


They are able to pull in a few new men-to get their number up to about 20-including former EMT and recovering drug addict Brendan McDonough (Miles Teller), who many of the other men don’t trust or believe belongs on the squad. Led by Eric Marsh (Josh Brolin), the group is put through the paces during training exercises and actual, in-the-field action that tests their knowledge of shifting winds and the behavior of flames under certain conditions. “Supe” Eric Marsh (Josh Brolin) with his crew in Columbia Pictures’ ONLY THE BRAVE.


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. A better and more compelling movie than you might think, Only the Brave tells the story of the real-life Granite Mountain Hotshots, a specially trained team of Arizona firefighters who fought some of the ferocious recent wildfires, including the Yarnell Hill Fire of 2013.
