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A30 PEOPLE/ARTS
Thursday 19 OcTOber 2017
Review: Good intentions go up

in smoke in ‘Only the Brave’

By MARK KENNEDY ing amount of mustaches, its knees so Connelly can
AP Entertainment Writer plenty of heavy metal on gently bathe it with soft
Firefighters must be our last the soundtrack (Metallica, wipes of a sponge. (This is
real superheroes. They run AC/DC) and spectacular pure horse manure.)
toward stuff that’s on fire, scenes of nature engulfed Instead of really bringing
for heaven’s sake. There in flames. The last few mo- us into the real lives and
are the few public servants ments are handled with motivations of the crew
— not cops, politicians or poignancy and beautiful members, no matter how
doctors — as beloved or horror, but the wind-up to messy, we’re left with yee-
who have managed to that point is sadly lacking. haw action sequences or
stay untainted. Mostly that’s because the self-serving reputation bur-
What they surely don’t film, written by Ken Nolan nishing. It’s like it was writ-
This image released by Sony Pictures shows Miles Teller, left, and need is the old fashioned and Eric Warren Singer, is ten specifically for a bunch
Josh Brolin in a scene from “Only the Brave.” Hollywood god-making burning up with cliches and of artistic Hollywood actors
Associated Press
treatment, but that’s ex- laughable dialogue. There who always wanted to be
actly what they’ve gotten are insane moments, like in scenes where they could
in the “Only the Brave,” an Brolin staring at a distant be cowboys or test pilots.
attempt to honor a group wildfire and saying mean- (“Mount up. This is game
of wildland firefighters ingfully, “What are you do- time,” is actual dialogue.
that is overwrought when ing? What are you up to?” Another: “If this isn’t the
it needs to be honest and like he’s a wildfire whisper- greatest job in the world, I
quiet. It wants to put capes er. Or Andie MacDowell, don’t know what is.”)
on men who don’t need a wife of a fire honcho, The apex of this silliness
them. telling another firefighter’s comes when Brolin pauses
The film , directed with a spouse: “It’s not easy shar- dramatically to tell a sto-
sure hand by Joseph Kosin- ing your man with a fire.” ry about when he was a
ski, centers on the 20-strong (Someone also actually young man fighting a blaze
Granite Mountain Hotshots says “I’ll probably be home and saw a bear on fire rush
and their journey from a for dinner,” a clear clue past him. “It was the most
local Arizona firefighting he won’t.)Jennifer Con- beautiful and terrible thing
team to an elite force at nelly plays the veterinarian I’ve ever seen,” he says,
the front lines of the Yarnell wife of Brolin’s character deeply. Then, for reasons
Hill Fire in 2013, one of the and she adds a complex that confound, the film-
country’s deadliest wild- mix to the testosterone- makers force us to WATCH
fires. (It’s “based on true heavy film. But she’s also a clearly CGI-created bear
events.”) made magical in a baf- on fire rush through a forest.
The spine of the story is the fling scene in which she ap- Subtle, huh?
relationship between crusty proaches an abandoned The film comes out when
local fire chief Eric Marsh and abused horse and just real wildfire firefighters are
(Josh Brolin, extra crusty) using her soft-eyed empa- battling massive blazes in
and an ex-junkie recruit thy gets it to instantly adore Northern California’s wine
hoping to straighten out his her. country, putting a spotlight
life (Miles Teller, very good). “You’re safe,” she says, on the men and women
There’s some gentle hazing stroking its head. “You’re putting their lives on the line
for the newcomer from vet- safe now. I promise.” Then under horrific conditions to
erans sporting a frighten- the horse meekly gets on save homes and souls. q
Roman Polanski in Poland for

documentary on his early life

WARSAW, Poland (AP) —
A Polish film company
said Tuesday that Oscar-
winning director Roman
Polanski has traveled to
Poland to appear in a
documentary about his
early life during the Holo-
caust and after the war in
Poland.The KRK Film com-
pany said that Polanski
was in Krakow to see the
site of the former ghetto
where he was held as a
child by the German Na-
zis. His mother was taken
from there to her death
at Auschwitz, and later his In this May 27, 2017 photo, director Roman Polanski appears at
father made him flee the the photo call for the film, “Based On A True Story,” at the 70th
ghetto. q international film festival, Cannes, southern France.
Associated Press