Alternate Best Actor 2017: Josh Brolin in Only the Brave

Josh Brolin did not receive an Oscar nomination for portraying Eric Marsh in Only the Brave. 

Only the Brave tells the true story of a unit of Hot Shot firefighters, who use fire to fight the fires. 

In a role primed to be poorly played by Mark Wahlberg, we instead are granted Josh Brolin as the leader of the firefighters. Brolin is most welcome as an opponent and has a fitting presence for this kind of part, as his rougher look is a natural fit for the hard hat wearing firefighting pro. Brolin in turn chooses not to try to overemphasize anything in order to be believable in the part. He doesn’t heavily adjust his presence rather bringing just a naturalistic quality in being this sort of “man of the people” type of character right from the outset. Brolin delivers a quiet leader of the crew charisma in his scenes with the men, he doesn’t make big speeches but has often the right kind of stoic certainty in his manner that would be convincing that you’d follow this guy into a burning building. He’s not the greatest leader known to man in Brolin’s performance, rather just a guy who knows what he’s doing and acts as a straight shooter in most arenas. We see him bring the fatherly warmth in moments with his men, particularly troubled newcomer Brendan (Miles Teller) who he takes under his wing despite hesitations by some of the other men. Brolin brings it directly and earnestly, never going into overemphasis theatrics instead fittingly playing very straight to the bone as the guy who wants to get his job done, knows how to do it and cares for his men in a very blunt and direct fashion. 

Brolin isn’t only the leader among the men as part of the film’s story is Brolin’s Marsh getting certification for his crew to be considered elite firefighters. Something that we see early on when Eric makes some suggestions to other firefighters, who not only ignore him but dismiss Eric as lesser than. Brolin’s performance is good in the scene bringing more modest quality in the delivery of the suggestions of someone who isn’t trying to act up but genuinely trying to help, and internalizes well the frustrations that he keeps inside yet are still evident when being dismissed. Something he brings to their eventual certification test where the observer tries to pull rank on him and push him around with the approach to fighting the fire. Brolin brings just the right controlled exasperated rage when he reminds the observer of his place, and shows within the frustrations the years of having to deal with that sort of nonsense. The controlled rage being of a mad intent on setting his flag clearly and within his mind proper justification. Brolin plays the leader of the men, but a leader who has been challenged, angered by those challenges yet willing to persevere through their rather intense challenges. 

Beyond his role as a firefighter the major conflict for Eric is the relationship with his wife Amanda (Jennifer Connelly). Where Brolin and Connelly I’d say have okay though not truly remarkable chemistry in their interactions which are a mix of flirtation and frustration. The latter stemming from her concerns for his safety and his workaholic attitude towards the firefighting job. Something Brolin again handles well in presenting just this torn loyalties where he portrays the severe conviction to his job as basically a truth, but still is earnest in his frustrations towards his wife’s concerns. An idea that ends up explored in a somewhat too little too late fashion as the film introduces very late that Eric and Amanda met as mutual alcoholics who recovered together, and leads Eric even to treat Brandon’s request for a safer gig as a potential avenue for faltering once again to addiction. Brolin is good in these moments in portraying the unease when being called out about essentially a new addiction in firefighting as the truth, where his reactions take in this quiet sense of anxiety as he tries to brush it off via his conviction of the nobility of the profession. Brolin finds the appropriate complication of the sentiment to the degree he can because this is an aspect the film could’ve explored more or at least with more depth, rather than something they bring up right towards the end of the film limiting that possible exploration. And after that the film is essentially over with only the central tragedy left, where Brolin’s performance in that surprisingly short sequence is good, particularly the growing sense of dread in his face, however it doesn’t quite leave the impact one would imagine possibly given the tragic nature of the story, although that is hardly Brolin’s fault. Brolin gives a good performance that suggests a greater potential within the material than is wholly realized.