Review: ‘Fury’ From The Editor

Director: David Ayer
Writer: David Ayer
Starring: Brad Pitt, Shia LaBeouf, Michael Peña, Logan Lerman, Jay Bernthal
Running Time: 134 minutes
Rating: R (for strong sequences of war violence, some grisly images, and language throughout)

Rating: 3.5

War is hell. So is finding peace.

Not the let’s all hold hands and skip around a campfire type of peace. That’s a peace of frivolity. Inner peace is hell. It is something that can be disguised with a poker face, masking the stressors that continue to rankle. Mental acuity and homeostasis and all that doctor speak means little when you are in a foreign land serving your country against an enemy who could be every bit as anxious as you; where the outcome is someone lives, another dies.

It’s April 1945. The setting is Germany. Five months later the Second World War will be over. But the men who inhabit the Sherman tank “Fury” don’t know that. We have Sergeant Don “Wardaddy” Collier (Brad Pitt), the scripture-quoting bookworm Boyd “Bible” Swan (Shia LaBeouf), driver and machine gunner Trini Garcia (Michael Peña), the poorly educated Grady “Coon-Ass” Travis (Jon Bernthal), and baby face Norman Ellison (Logan Lerman), looking like he was pulled out of boot and told to go to that tank over there. Which is pretty much how it happened; Norman, a 60 word-per-minute typist, is assigned to Fury to replace another gunner who didn’t survive the most recent skirmish.

The weathered soldiers, save this one baby-faced rook, who occupy Fury have seen their fair share of action across countries and continents; they have a history together that reveals itself gradually. Each new admission supports the ugliness of war and the idea that history at its basic core is evil.

The slaughter these men have committed can’t be quantified with a pencil and straightedge. And it’s not just killing Nazis. During one interlude a story is told of what they had to do the days after the allies gained the Normandy coast after D-Day. Even without added visual stimuli the images audiences will see in their mind’s eye is enough to turn one’s stomach. Yet it is moments like this that helped to forge this outfit. Any ideals these men once had are gone. Nobility is dead. The passage of time spent in the confines a 30-ton sardine can doesn’t allow for commiseration. Moments to exhale and compartmentalize the savagery are few, but when they do occur the result is wickedly honest.

The cast pulling together in harsh circumstances (both lived through on and off screen) helps Fury power through the muddy and treacherous landscapes like a classic war movie. Filmed predominently in the UK, the presentation of the film is every bit the dangerous and damning scenario of war, the tank tracks squelching through the mud and bodies being deposited left, right and centre. The background sound of exploding shells and overflying planes only heightens the realistic edge to Ayer’s representation of war and when battle commences it is an intense experience.

That is where Fury often revels; in-between some emotionally harrowing and affecting scenes (one within a German home especially handled perfectly), Ayer barrages us with a foray of thrilling and tension-thrilled battle cries, often coming out of nowhere. From seemless explosive tank head-to-heads to town raids, the End Of Watch director uses every opportunity to solidly bring us the horrifying nature of war without ever feeling heavy-handed or brutal. Indeed, bloodhsed is of high levels but this is once again the grounded reality of the situation and continually feels well handed under his direction.

Surprisingly moving, incredibly engaging and brimming with a level of humanity that many war films lack, Ayer’s Fury is a film that is exceptional on many levels. Many may have issues with some of the characters but their actions only heighten the damning reality of soldiers involved in such horrific events. Handled beautifully in both its emotion and action, Fury is a sure-fire hit.