Fury

Fury is a hellish look at WWII's final days through the eyes of a battle-hardened tank crew, and a pacifist newbie thrown in to replace a dead crew member before one last run into Germany. It's ugly, dirty, violent. But writer/director David Ayer wouldn't have it any other way. Colin Powell commented "This is really how it is" after watching a screening, and I can't help but agree (speculation, I've never been in war). There is very little glamour, and death is waiting for all of them at any given moment. The unnerving constant is how each of the men deal with the harsh reality of their own mortality.

The crew of Fury, the Sherman tank mobile home for a 5 man crew, is led by Brad Pitt, a man who is stoic and hard in front of his men. Brave and unshakeable. But he has his personal moments of silent insanity when nobody is watching. He knows that a true leader in war needs to be strong and confident, or else his crew will fail. He promises all of them that he will keep them safe if they follow his directions, and they all believe him; with every last ounce of their lives. Michael Pena (End of Watch) plays the driver without much emotion. He's a little bit too calm throughout the fray, but he is assuaged by Pitt's words of wisdom. Jon Bernthal (The Walking Dead) plays the muscled crazy crewman who is the loader. Grimy and dirty, his job is to keep loading hulking shells, one after the other, and he gets a euphoric rush every time one of them is fired. Shia LeBeouf is the gunner, and although he's fallen on some harsh criticism since his Transformers roles, he is the centerpiece of the full emotional spectrum played out on the screen. A great role and great performance.

The focus of the film, however, lies in the heart of Logan Lerman's character. A brand new army typist, drafted right out of innocence, and thrust in to the war as a replacement gunner on Pitt's Fury crew. He's in way over his head, having never been in a tank, and never wanting to fire a weapon. There's a constant look of palpable fear that slowly wears away, like Novocaine subsiding, until the final act when he becomes what he fought so hard to avoid, a war machine.

There is constant tension through the claustrophobia inherent in the idea of a fortified mobile enemy target. Three well executed battle sequences show some of the harrowing faces of death, and Ayer does a nice job creating some dramatic shock value to amp up the tension. The idea that one well-placed rocket can cause an inferno, cooking the 5 men inside is a pulsating fear that slowly grows over the course of the film.

I've never seen a truly well done tank battle scene in the movies. Best I can recall, Patton and Courage Under Fire are the only 2 that come to mind, and their action is muted by the acting and the character studies. Fury's action scenes blow them away, bar none. Four Sherman tanks taking on the massive fortress of a German Tiger Tank is one of the coolest choreographed battle ballets intermixed with violence, blood, and explosions that I've seen in recent film. A truly remarkable achievement.

As the battle-torn Fury finally falls apart (not a spoiler, it's in the trailer), the men are faced with the ultimate decision. Fight or flee. Life or death. The final fight is a bit rushed, and a bit one-sided compared with what might have been the reality, but Fury leaves its mark.

Fury is the type of film that won't get the awards attention that I thought it would before viewing. It has the grittiness and violence of Saving Private Ryan, but it's missing something. Director David Ayer has carved out a Hollywood niche, and as long as there are profits, he'll keep making his movies. The human characters could use a bit more depth, and that's what I've thought since he broke on the scene with Training Day. Every subsequent film he's created has lacked character development.

Terrific action however, and brutally graphic death scenes. Ayer's next film falls in line with his wheelhouse, a remake of the Sam Peckinpah classic The Wild Bunch set in modern day Mexico. That will be a cool movie.

Fury is absolutely not for the timid, not for the masses. If your gut turned watching the violence of Saving Private Ryan, you might want to skip this. For the action film junkie however, Fury is pretty good. Dialogue and character development are certainly the weaknesses, but otherwise it's a very worthwhile use of two hours. I loved it and hated it, a rarity in my experience, but because of its strengths, I have to give it a 7/10.