Fury: Review

Starring: Brad Pitt, Logan Lerner, Shia LaBeouf, Alicia Von Rittberg, Scott Eastwood, Michael Pena (Rated MA – 134 min).

Those who may remember the impact of the horrifically real sequence of the Normandy Landings in Saving Private Ryan will probably not blink an eye during the equally violent annihilation in Fury – except this time it’s practically during the entire movie. An extraordinary ode to epic war films full of intense action and impeccable character, details don’t disguise how brutal some of the images within this film depicts.

April 1945, Nazi Germany is on the march to take over occupied Europe and things look grim for the resistance. Brad Pitt is Sergeant Don ‘Wardaddy’ Collier who does not take a backward step when it comes to protecting his crew or defending his country. His unit find themselves outnumbered, outgunned and up against overwhelming odds in a tank surrounded by an incoming enemy. The tank in question is falling apart which doesn’t help their chance of victory but the smart instincts, if not suicidal ambitions of Collier, persist moving forward to fight for survival.

The film I kept thinking of was the 1965 tank face-off during Battle of the Bulge, a cinematic war epic that relates to Fury. Be warned that director David Ayer (End of Watch) lets the blood run free not shying away from cruelty or dangerous instincts during war. n extended scene involving Pitt and Noah star, Logan Lerman, who discover two pretty German girls is wrought with sexual tendencies with a sense of dread that the outcome will be violent. It is an example of complex exploring of gray areas of humanity in shameful circumstances.

Pitt may be play the rough military man here but still manages to display that classic matinee idol appeal whenever smoking a cigarette. Lerman is an interesting talent while his character never seems to be as afraid as he should be. Australian Xavier Samuel makes a unique appearance and the always obscure Shia LaBeouf is a much better actor than most critics give him credit for.

Living up to its title building to a bloody finale with no mercy, fury is unleashed in a massacre reminiscent of the controversial, The Wild Bunch.

Shane A. Bassett

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