Fury / Rated R for war violence, psychological torture and gore. Not Al.
Fury is a full blown WWII movie. And it is a rare tank crew story. Right up front; except for golf course accidents this is an every kind of violent death movie. If you are squeamish do not see this film. Otherwise this is an entertaining, although a little long, war film. It reminds me of three war movies and two westerns. Saving Pvt. Ryan (1998), set the standard for realistic war violence and Fury follows in its wake. It also owes a lot to Sahara (1943) with Humphrey Bogart and The Sands of Iwo Jima (1949) with John Wayne, for their tough no nonsense characters. The westerns it pays homage to include The Wild Bunch (1969) and any version of The Alamo especially the most recent version (2004).
The storyline follows a single tank crew who, except for one newcomer, have been in the war since its early days. Now they are on the home stretch trying to survive to see the end. The story takes place inside Germany during the last month of WWII in Europe. It states on screen it is April of 1945. Hitler was dead by the end of the month and WWII in Europe was over by May 8th. Unfortunately the fight for the Homeland is the one the Germans waged the hardest. Using kids, girls, old men and anybody else he could enlist, Hitler insisted they fight till the end. Many did.
The tank crew consists of “Top” Sergeant E-6 played by Brad Pitt. Pitt is terrific assuming the leadership role as the “tough as nails” persona he has to become. He is a cross between the above mentioned John Wayne and Humphrey Bogart. He is accompanied by Shia LaBeouf showing he can leave his personality out of the story and be the character he needs to be. Also in the crew are Michael Pena and Jon Bernthal. The addition of a new member, Logan Lerman, makes for lots of high drama. LL plays a 60 WPM clerk typist who has seen no combat and is brought in as a machine gun operator replacement at the last minute.
All crew members are especially good although the BP character dominates. The story follows their procession through a part of Germany as the Allies proceed on their bloody campaign to make it to Berlin and win the war.
Two lines from BP by writer/director David Ayer explain a lot about this movie. In one scene, civilians caught in the middle of the carnage ask BP when the war will end and he replies “when your people quit”. When confronted by the raw and brutal violent acts he commits he makes another simple but true statement, “Ideals are peaceful. History is violent”. These are lessons for anyone who finds themselves in a war. You might want to reread them if you don’t understand their truth.
Although flawed by length this is a terrifically entertaining film as long as you can stand the war violence. That is why I have repeated the warning.
Rated 3.8 out of 4.0 reasons not to read this review if you have seen any of the main four films this movie mimics. The spoiler alert is too late. Too bad. Tough as nails. That’s me.