Fury

There are times when I go to the theater and I'm just not expecting much.

I expected Fury to be "good", but ultimately forgettable. The trailers just really hadn't been doing it for me the past few months and Brad Pitt's character looked, and sounded, like a cheap knock off of Lt. Aldo Raine from Inglorious Basterds, which seemed to not gel appropriately for the more serious tone that this World War II film was shooting for.

As much as I try to avoid doing this on a weekly basis, I pretty much already had a score range picked out for Fury and now, it was just a matter of watching it.

And then a curious thing happened. Over the course of 134 minutes I found myself emotionally invested in the characters and appalled by the absolute horrors of war. Knowing that David Ayer was directing, I should have expected this, but it still left me rather shell-shocked leaving the theater...a feat that is harder and harder for me to come by these days. To me, it seemed like Fury tried to communicate a point that isn't often communicated in war films and I found it immensely powerful (when it communicated said point effectively). It's not a "fun" movie, not by any means. What it is, is a realistic look at a dwindling war and the terrible, terrible things that men on both sides of the lines still had to endure, despite the finish line being in sight.

Quite the phenomenal cast wouldn't ya say?

Fury is likely one of the most clichéd, unoriginal World War II movies you will ever see. It features such things as impossible odds, the stoic leader, the green soldier, the final, unrealistic battle, soldier sympathy and the most opportune moment, etc. etc. etc. And that's really where it loses all its points from my rating. I understand that some of those things are hard to avoid in the World War II genre, and for a while it does look like Fury will avoid several of them, but eventually ends up embracing all of them. The final battle, as well orchestrated and emotional as it is, somewhat hindered the movie in my eyes because it just didn't seem logical from the characters' perspective. Of course, no spoilers here, but given the driving force of Pitt's Don "Wardaddy" throughout the entirety of the film, the reasoning seemed weak and came across as an excuse to have the epic final battle.

"Guys! This isn't funny! Don't leave me!"

However, despite all its clichés, Fury still shocked me. First, it shocked me with its gore. This is not the type of gore that enthralls (i.e. orc decapitations in Lord of the Rings or something of that nature). This is the type of gore that is horrible and real and reminds you of exactly how little the violence of war cares who you are. A few scenes in particular will be burned into my brain for some time to come and were hard to stomach upon originally seeing them. As I said earlier, Fury is not a fun film. Secondly, I was impressed with the band of characters. Sure, they are more or less caricatures of roles we have all seen before, but the cast is strong enough to elevate them into something a little more special. Of the group of five, three actors' characters are rather unexplored: Michael Pena, Jon Bernthal, and Shia LaBeouf. They all gave fantastic performances, and out of the three I would say that LaBeouf does the best job and breaks out of his character mold the most. But the film really belongs to Brad Pitt and Logan Lerman who play the roles of hardened leader and scared newbie. Pitt recognizes the innocence in Lerman, tries to steal it away from him, and later tries to reclaim some of it for himself. Their dynamic was the anchor of the film and really where the emotional crux was born.

Fury also features some spectacular tank based battles that are not only filmed well, but sound great. Despite the slow-moving nature of tanks, Ayer is able to make them fast paced, frantic encounters, where death comes down to who can shoot the fastest and most accurately. But even past the tank battles, I was impressed with the cinematography of the film, particularly in an awe inspiring scene where the tank groups on the ground look up to see an immense sky battle just about to begin. It was a wondrous and startling image for me as we often get so sucked into the small niche of whatever War film we are watching that we forget about all of the other battles/moves/activities going on elsewhere. Fury also has a strong script, which isn't really a surprise coming from Ayer, as well as a pretty decent original score.

Family dinner?

Fury may be a World War II film that you have already seen several times before, this much is true. But Fury teaches us something about war that a lot of other war films miss the point on. At the end of the day, every soldier's innocence will be robbed in some way, shape, or fashion. And for those deep in the trenches, it becomes all about surviving and killing. Just those two things. Fury strips war down to just those two things, more so than many movies before it, and the results are a horrifying, but effective picture of war and just how much gratitude we owe to those that partake in it on behalf of our country.

In the expansive pantheon of World War II movies, Fury isn't the best, but it's definitely one of the greats.

CONS:

• Clichéd and unoriginal. Granted, originality is a hard thing to accomplish in a World War II film these days, but Fury isn't really able to make itself stand out from a plot perspective
• Some one dimensional characters
• The clichés bleed into the ending, which, despite it being an impressive and exciting battle sequence, seemed to not be the most logical choice for our squad

PROS:

• Ayer's direction and script are well done
• Solid performances from all. LaBeouf, Lerman, and Pitt were the standouts for me
• The dynamic between Pitt and Lerman, and the quiet situations that it creates, are fascinating and truly the best part of the film
• Brutal and violent, but in an appropriate way
• Short air battle scene as viewed from the ground
• Well orchestrated tank battles that are more intense than one might expect
• Solid original score
• Strong cinematography throughout
• The stripping of all other war tropes to just "survive" and "kill" make for a startlingly realistic and horrifying picture of the waning days of World War II

Rath's Review Score: 8.5/10