Review: ‘Only the Brave’ Is an Inspiring Tale of Firefighter Sacrifice

Given what Northern California has endured recently with wildfires, perhaps it’s high time to honor those risking life and limb to contain such conflagrations. If only Joseph Kosinski’s action-drama “Only the Brave” — based on the exploits of the real-life Granite Mountain Hotshots, a troop of elite firefighters near Prescott, Ariz. — had a less generic title and fewer formulaic beats. But under its slick, schematic surface, this tale of aspiration and redemption at least offers moments of genuine feeling.

This is a movie about Southwestern working-class men who drink beer, carry heavy tools, train in quasi-military fashion, banter in a weight room, attend a group family picnic and drive pickup trucks to a soundtrack loaded with AC/DC and ZZ Top. The women in their lives raise children (or train horses) when they’re not scolding their men about neglecting family or the risks of their profession. Amid the familiar milieu, however, there are subtle, inventive touches.

The more aspirational narrative concerns Eric Marsh (Josh Brolin, whose craggy face has never better blended with a parched setting). Marsh is determined to whip the Hotshots into an efficient unit, despite challenges from his forthright wife (a vivid Jennifer Connelly, whose impassioned arguments with Mr. Brolin’s character have their own kind of spark). Marsh, a bespectacled Buddhist in recovery from substance abuse, is a fascinating variation on your typical taciturn hero. (As his avuncular mentor, a veteran fire chief, Jeff Bridges embodies a more conventional template.)

The redemption concerns a feckless pothead (Miles Teller) whose pregnant girlfriend has left him because of his indigence and dissolution. He must win her back and prove himself a responsible, loving father. The Hotshots help, though he must contend with a ne’er-do-well (Taylor Kitsch) with his own immaturity issues.

Mr. Kosinski — and the screenwriters, Ken Nolan (“Black Hawk Down”) and Eric Warren Singer — let the characters grow in complexity before they face their greatest trial. Wisely, they do not overly sentimentalize the conclusion. This may not be a story of triumph, but it’s inspiring nevertheless.