These are all small character arcs, but these actors bring a whole lot to their characters. Christopher (Taylor Kitsch) is dating the hottest model in town and learning the downside of such decisions.

Brendon has a drug problem, but still struggling to support his daughter. They have lives and a comradery with each other that extends beyond their profession. In this film, these characters are Firefighters and that is an important part of their lives, but that isn't what defines them as characters. Usually, those stereotypes are only there to showcase the fact that this is a movie about firefighters or police officers. It is rare that we see these character archetypes subverted this way in a film, and they are all the better for it. However, we very much are supposed to root for his success. The junky rookie Brendan (Miles Teller), our viewpoint into the world of wildfire fighting, is a screw up who ends up being the team’s demise. She has her own business working her farm and training horses. He’s a likable guy who has a wife, Amanda (Jennifer Connelly), who loves him but doesn’t live her life around the fact that her husband fights wildfires. Yet our lead character Eric Marsh (Josh Brolin) isn’t an unbelievable character seeking redemption. On paper, a movie like Only the Brave would be a movie filled with clichéd characterization and a predictable outcome. As wrong as I was back when that franchise first premiered, this is a rule I tend to forget. And yet, we have the Fast and the Furious franchise where the first installment was very much that template. For instance, I would say it’s a bad idea to start a billion-dollar franchise based on Point Break but with cars. In film school, you learn that there is no such thing as a “bad idea,” only bad execution.

Only the brave