Only The Brave sidesteps pretty much every convention of Real Life Tragedy filmmaking, avoiding cheesiness and subject - worship by grounding the story in the mundanity of life between infernos. (laineygossip.com)
The film does get across the futility of war, and the opening scene, featuring a young Russian soldier asking a psychic how soon before he will die, is a moment that cleverly balances the science fiction with real life tragedy. (hoopla.nu)
And that's how the film avoids the phoniness — that nurse aside — which often plagues Real Life Tragedy movies. (laineygossip.com)